"Planet of the Humans" claims: Wind & Solar unsustainable. True?

Submitted by epk on May 2, 2020

There has recently been some controvesy in US media regarding film on the question of the sustainability of Solar and Wind-powered electricity production: Planet of the Humans (see also the Wikipedia entry)).

The film makes multiple claims, suggestions and allusions, but I was hoping that people with better knowledge and understanding of energy production and economy, especially in the predictive/futuristic context, be able to address some of the main points for me:

* Is it the case that using solar panels for energy production eventually requires more energy not produced by the panels, to power the production, maintenance, intermittency handling/storage etc. of the panels, than the energy the panels produce?
* Same question, but for wind turbines.
* Is it conceivable that solar panels could be made, nearly-100%, from materials which can be sustainable sourced in non-environmentally-destructive ways? i.e. not the highly-polluting mining of rare elements?

I realize the answer to the first two questions can depend on the amount of exposure to sun and wind at the installation site, whether there's an installation base over a larger area which cushions intermittency somewhat, and potential improvements in production and materials engineering over time. So, you can make any reasonable assumptions - but make them explicitly.

For the sake of discussion I'm ignoring issues such as, well, Capitalism, lack of collaboration between nation-states in running their electric grids, war and sabotage, and the ecosystem impact of wind and solar farms.

radicalgraffiti

4 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by radicalgraffiti on May 3, 2020

epk

* Is it the case that using solar panels for energy production eventually requires more energy not produced by the panels, to power the production, maintenance, intermittency handling/storage etc. of the panels, than the energy the panels produce?
* Same question, but for wind turbines.

no thats not true, photovoltaic solar and wind turbines both have a EROEI of more than one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_returned_on_energy_invested
which means they produced more energy they is used to make them

sometimes people claim the eroei is less than one, but these claims are based on a dishonest analysis of the data

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516307066