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DOE OSTI · 1890455

Quantifying Energy Flows in PV Circularity Processes: Preprint

Mirletz, Heather M. (ORCID:0000000250584804)·Ovaitt, Silvana (ORCID:000000030180728X)·Gaulding, Ashley (ORCID:0000000217721993)·Sridhar, Seetharaman·Barnes, Teresa (ORCID:0000000231540558)
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Abstract

As sustainability and end-of-life management become a hot topic to timely address in the PV community, a proper evaluation of the benefits of circular pathways such as recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing has not been performed holistically beyond material flows or LCA analysis. Energy flows are critical for evaluating energy generation technologies. Previously they have been used to compare renewables to fossil generation and then between PV technologies. This paper brings energy flows to bear on reaching circular pathways for PV. The energy flows to track energy usage, generation, and losses complementary to the mass flows are presented for silicon through the leverage of the PV ICE framework.

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circular economyenergy flowsenergy return on investment (EROI)material flowsphotovoltaicsrecyclerepairreuseSOLAR ENERGY

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Mirletz, Heather M. (ORCID:0000000250584804), Ovaitt, Silvana (ORCID:000000030180728X), Gaulding, Ashley (ORCID:0000000217721993), Sridhar, Seetharaman, Barnes, Teresa (ORCID:0000000231540558). 2022-09-26. Quantifying Energy Flows in PV Circularity Processes: Preprint. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1890455

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