SRC-187

Methodology Guidelines on Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Electricity, 4th edition. IEA PVPS Task 12.

Commissioned by IEA PVPS. Who paid for a study is recorded because it bears on how its conclusions should be read, not because it makes them wrong.

Published claims resting on this source

• CLM-0316 In 2009 three researchers guessed that, once the energy to deliver and use it is counted, an oil-based fuel must return at least about 3 times the energy put into it, and a society's main fuels about 5 times, to support modern life; a search found no open, peer-reviewed calculation of where space solar power sits against such thresholds.
• CLM-1310 The 2016 guidelines recommend default lifetime, wear-out and performance numbers for a ground solar energy-return study, and list 16 facts every study must report. An SBSP figure can be checked against the same list to see whether it is comparable.

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