Does the world have enough materials for PV to help address climate change?
In the ongoing discussion of what needs to be done to stabilize atmospheric CO2 by mid-century (Hoffert 1998), one possible option would be to add about 10-20 terawatts (trillion watts, or TW) of photovoltaics (PV) in place of conventional energy sources. PV would help because, unlike burning fossil fuels, it produces no CO2. However, 10-20 TW is an enormous amount of energy. In peak watts, as PV installations are generally rated, it is about 50-100 TWpeak (TWp) of PV. We base our calculations on 75 TWp of PV by 2065. Would our planet have enough materials for this much PV? Although 75 TWp is a vast amount of energy, we think we have enough feedstock materials for PV to meet the “TW challenge.
