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Influence of Waste Management on the Environmental Footprint of Electricity Produced by Photovoltaic Systems

Author

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  • Sina Herceg

    (Department of Material Analysis, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstr 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany)

  • Sebastián Pinto Bautista

    (Department of Material Analysis, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstr 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany)

  • Karl-Anders Weiß

    (Department of Material Analysis, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstr 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany)

Abstract

PV waste management will gain relevance proportionally to the amounts of waste that are expected to arise with the phasing-out of old installations in the upcoming years and decades. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used here to analyze the environmental performance of photovoltaic systems and the waste management methods that have been developed recently. Several LCA studies have already been performed for PV technologies, but in most cases these do not include the end of life stage, thus there is still uncertainty about the impacts of recycling on the environmental footprint of PV electricity. The present study offers a more detailed analysis of different end-of-life approaches for the main photovoltaic technologies that are found on the market. The results from the analysis demonstrate that recycling has the potential to improve the environmental profile of PV electricity but at the same time there is room for further improvements in developing dedicated recycling technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Sina Herceg & Sebastián Pinto Bautista & Karl-Anders Weiß, 2020. "Influence of Waste Management on the Environmental Footprint of Electricity Produced by Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:9:p:2146-:d:352729
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. McDonald, N.C. & Pearce, J.M., 2010. "Producer responsibility and recycling solar photovoltaic modules," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7041-7047, November.
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    2. Luca Ciacci & Fabrizio Passarini, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Environmental and Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-8, November.
    3. Mariusz Niekurzak & Wojciech Lewicki & Hasan Huseyin Coban & Agnieszka Brelik, 2023. "Conceptual Design of a Semi-Automatic Process Line for Recycling Photovoltaic Panels as a Way to Ecological Sustainable Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, February.
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    5. Dias, Pablo R. & Schmidt, Lucas & Chang, Nathan L. & Monteiro Lunardi, Marina & Deng, Rong & Trigger, Blair & Bonan Gomes, Lucas & Egan, Renate & Veit, Hugo, 2022. "High yield, low cost, environmentally friendly process to recycle silicon solar panels: Technical, economic and environmental feasibility assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
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