Fig. 1: A spatial-temporal life-cycle-assessment model to quantify the global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and mitigation of solar PV industrial chain.

Annual GHG emissions and mitigation of the entire solar PV power industrial chain are quantified at the country level, based on the spatiotemporal GHG emission and mitigation intensities, and activity levels of all relevant processes from production of metallurgical-grade silicon to the recycle of the solar PV power generation system. In additional to historical accounting, the study quantifies how GHG emissions and mitigation evolve under different industrial chain development patterns, through combining global differences in projective emission and mitigation intensities with 3 manufacturing patterns (M1-M3) and 3 installation patterns (C1-C3).