ArticleScientific reports2024
Analogical environmental cost assessment of silicon flows used in solar panels by the US and China.
Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- A comprehensive analysis of advanced solar panel productivity and efficiency through numerical models and emotional neural networks.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- An Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Construction Materials of Monocrystalline and Perovskite Photovoltaic Power Plants Toward Their Sustainable Development.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Selected social impact indicators influenced by materials for green energy technologies.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Achieving carbon neutrality requires deployment of large-scale renewable energy technologies like solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Nevertheless, methods to ascertain the overall environmental impacts PVs and further improve their sustainability are under-investigated. In an effort to provide more understanding of this crucial topic, this research focuses on silicon flows-a key element for manufacturing crystalline silicon PVs. Using system dynamics modeling, we conduct a comprehensive environmental cost assessment of the silicon flows used in PVs based on a comparative analysis between the United States and China as the leading global PV manufacturers. Despite the advancement in wafer quality, material usage reductions and overall price decreases achieved in recent decades, our results project a substantial increase in energy and water consumption in China related to Metallurgical Grade Si (MG-Si), Solar Grade Si (SoG-Si) and cell manufacturing by 2030. An approximate 6.5 times increase of energy and water consumption is observed for c-Si cell manufacturing in China between 2010 and 2020. In 2030, increases of 70% in energy consumption and 69% in water use are estimated for Chinese MG-Si and SoG-Si production. The most significant environmental impact is observed in silicon cell and module manufacturing in both countries, particularly concerning GHG, SO
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.