Towards sustainable photovoltaics: A carbon footprint rating system for module selection and industry decarbonization

Congguang Zhang, Jianghao Ji, Yijing Meng, Chengzu Wang, Zhengguo Li and Qi Guo

Renewable Energy, 2025, vol. 252, issue C

Abstract: With the growth of energy demand and the rapid development of global photovoltaic (PV) industry, the carbon emissions generated by PV modules themselves cannot be ignored. This study takes monocrystalline silicon PV modules as an example to explore the establishment of a carbon footprint rating system applicable to PV module products. Based on life cycle assessment, topology analysis, and CRITIC weighting method, the carbon footprint level of photovoltaic modules was evaluated, and a comprehensive evaluation method based on topological hierarchy analysis was proposed. This method divides the carbon footprint evaluation of products into six levels, A to F, with the superiority of the evaluation levels decreasing from A to F. The results show that out of the 9 selected products, 2 were rated as C level, 6 were rated as D level, and 1 was rated as E. Obviously, the carbon footprint of most PV module products is higher than the average level. Finally, this study analyzes the key links of carbon emissions from photovoltaic modules, and combines the grading scheme proposed to analyze potential effective carbon reduction paths for PV module products, promoting enterprise optimization of production processes and achieving a win-win situation of multiple sustainability benefits.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment; Carbon footprint rating; Photovoltaic module; Extension hierarchy analysis; Industrial decarbonization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125012194
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:252:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125012194

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123557

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().