Are Fossil Fuels Used To Make Solar Panels

The sun provides a free and renewable source of energy.

Are fossil fuels used to make solar panels.

The cost of electricity is the major factor in aluminium prices. Outside the limitation that solar energy cannot be used 24 hours a day without a storage solution it is better than fossil fuels. Anything made of metal takes lots of energy to make. The international energy agency iea says the cost per megawatt to build solar plants is below fossil fuels worldwide for the first time.

However all of these three forms of fossil fuels need to be extracted or exploited from the ground. But the process of making the various components requires fossil fuels both for power and for the components themselves some of which are based on petroleum. Public success stories like elon musk s solar and wind. As for the raw materials there is no reason they require fossil fuels.

The clean energy council wants australia to use more renewable energy. Solar panels have little metal edges around the panels. The metal train cars and the metal railroad tracks that are used to truck that coal by rail that runs across the country from wyoming to fuel the coal plant in pennsylvania all those things made of metal take energy to make. Coal natural gas and oil are all examples of fossil fuels with an energy density much higher than that of solar energy.

The council s director of energy generation anna freeman says solar is a great place to start. Although solar energy is a clean alternative to fossil fuels making the panels themselves can have a negative environmental impact. The frames for solar panels are made of aluminium this requires smelting this smelting is done by electrolysis and is one of the most energy intensive processes. Renewable energy has doubled its share in australia s energy market over the past decade.

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of new energy build anna says. A new company biosolar aims to kick.