Is solar power carbon neutral

Answer 1

No, it is not, not at first. But the first three months of use usually compensates for for the production emissions.

In calculating the carbon footprint, the carbon costs of manufacture, transportation, and installation all have to be included, as do the costs of uninstallation and disposal at the end of the life cycle of the apparatus.

The carbon footprint of solar power is small. Solar thermal power, such as is used in solar hot water, can have a smaller carbon footprint than wind or hydro, because the manufacturing cost (in terms of carbon emissions) of solar thermal can be kept to a minimum. Solar photovoltaics (PVs) have a larger carbon footprint than wind or hydro, though modern PVs have a carbon footprint that is not much bigger, perhaps twice as big. This is because a lot of energy is used in manufacture. Older PVs had a much larger carbon footprint because they were less efficient (produced less power) and manufacture required gasses like nitrogen trifluoride (NFl3), which is about 17000 times as powerful as CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The NFl3 was trapped, but tiny amounts of it escaped, and these had to be accounted for.

The operation of solar power can be carbon neutral, but this does not consider the total carbon footprint as it should be - "cradle to grave," as they say.