INNOVATING FOR ZERO EMISSION MOBILITY

Carbon emission intensity of wind power and solar energy

Critics sometimes argue that nuclear, wind or solar power have a hidden carbon footprint, due to their manufacture and construction. This large “carbon debt”, and the related debt of energy, must be paid offif they are to cut emissions over their lifetime. Factories churning out solar panels use large amounts of. . The first stage of the work is to add up the energy needed to build power stations and to provide them with the fuel and other inputs they need to run.. . Today’s research uses the embedded energy numbers to work out the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of different sources of electricity. It finds that the footprint of nuclear, wind. . Contrary to the claims of some critics, today’s research shows that the hidden emissions due to building wind turbines, solar panels or nuclear plants are very low, in comparison with. [pdf]