How clean are renewable energies?

09 march 2023

Photovoltaics and wind power are supposed to make our energy more climate-friendly, with electric cars doing the same for our transport. But batteries, solar power systems and the rest do not grow on trees. They need to be built using energy-intensive processes, transported across the globe and recycled at the end of their lives. How big is the CO₂ burden associated with renewable energies, and at what point in their lives do they break even?

As researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) have determined, over half the carbon footprint of a solar module is accounted for by the energy used in its production alone. In China, the world’s biggest producer of solar modules, this energy is generated predominantly from coal.  According to Fraunhofer ISE, solar cells produced in Europe generate 40 percent fewer emissions. And this carbon footprint could be improved still further with new technological approaches and changes in design. With frameless glass-glass modules, Fraunhofer ISE says, up to 27 percent of emissions could be saved in comparison to standard glass-foil modules. If solar modules are consistently recycled at the end of their life, UBA says, their carbon footprint can be reduced by a further three to 15 percent.

What about the carbon footprint?

When it comes to the carbon footprint of wind turbines, steel and cement is again the most important factor – during their production, a lot of CO₂ is pumped into the atmosphere. According to UBA, a modern wind turbine in a rural area with light winds is responsible for the emission of 10.6 grammes of CO₂ per kilowatt hour of electricity. At locations with strong winds, the figure is 7.9 grammes; with offshore wind farms, it drops further to a mere 7.3 grammes per kilowatt hour.

After hydropower, which is responsible for four grammes of CO₂ per kilowatt hour of electricity, wind power has the best carbon footprint of all the electricity generators. Even a turbine in an area with less wind is 100 times less harmful to the climate than a lignite-fired power station and 46 times less emissions-intensive than a gas-fired power plant. And if the steel for the turbine towers were to be produced using green hydrogen, this would improve their carbon footprint even further.

What good does recycling do?

Copper, aluminium, concrete and steel from wind turbines can already be recycled or reused at the end of their service life. This applies to some 80 to 90 percent of their materials – with the exception, however, of the rotor blades. These are made of compounds such as resin-, glass- and carbon-fibre which are difficult to break down into their component elements and will only yield up their riches in return for large amounts of energy. In the US and some European countries, spent rotor blades currently end up in landfill; in Germany they are shredded and used as an alternative fuel in cement kilns and waste incineration plants. Manufacturer Siemens Gamesa launched the world’s first recyclable rotor blade in 2021. The intention is for the wind turbines from the German-Spanish manufacturer to be completely recyclable by 2040.

What about the carbon footprint?

The carbon footprint of electric cars is a matter of frequent heated debate, both in public and in the social media. One frequently heard assertion is that electric cars are barely or no more climate-friendly than their petrol- or diesel-powered equivalents, as the German electricity mix still contains a lot of coal, and huge amounts of CO₂ are generated in the production of their batteries. The fact is that, whereas petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles emit over three-quarters of their carbon dioxide on the road, with electric cars the vast majority of their emissions are accounted for by battery production. This has become steadily more efficient and, consequently, more climate-friendly in recent years. As a study of the International Council of Clean Transportation (ICCT) has reported, the CO₂ emissions from an electric compact car in Europe are already 66 to 70 percent lower than those of a comparable petrol- or diesel-powered car. And since the proportion of green electricity in the mix will continue to increase, the researchers say that the green advantage enjoyed by electric cars could go up to as much as 77 percent. Where electric cars are powered exclusively by green electricity, the ICCT reckons that they already generate up to 81 percent fewer emissions than their fossil-fuel counterparts. A current study of the Universität der Bundeswehr München, the university of the German army, goes even further, claiming CO₂ savings of nearly 90 percent. According to the researchers’ calculations, a current Tesla Model 3 will have compensated for the CO₂ generated by making its battery after just 18,000 kilometres, at which point it will have overtaken a comparable petrol or diesel model.