Sustainable resource use and the projected development of PV

Abstract

Climate protection, the transformation of the energy system, the sustainable use of natural resources and increasing resource efficiency are main strategic policy fields in the EU and the member countries. Whereas the expansion of PV electricity supply is clearly fostering the first two strategic fields, negative effects on the latter may occur. The expected expansion requires significant amounts of raw materials and other resources. This raises questions on raw material supply, but also hampers the target achievement on resource efficiency and trade-offs to different environmental policies may occur. Whereas the topic of raw material supply is already under intensive investigation, the questions on synergies and trade-offs coming along with the PV expansion are rarely explored. Several research projects on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) were analyzing different aspects in the context of environmental feasible expansion of PV in Germany. Based on selected results, we highlighted the interlinkages of PV expansion and resource use, evaluate the possible trade-offs and synergies to sustainable use of natural resources and conclude with implication for environmental policies, resource efficiency and suggestion for a resource efficient expansion of PV.<P>Quelle: http://www.eupvsec-proceedings.com/