Associate Professor Joshua M. Pearce (MSE/ECE) was quoted in IEEE Spectrum magazine as part of its coverage of the energy return for solar photovoltaic technology.
Argument Over the Value of Solar Focuses on Spain
Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Technological University, notes that energy policies could improve real returns from solar energy by offering incentives for the use of the highest-EROI systems. Centralized solar farms full of cheap crystalline silicon modules—which EROI studies show to be the most energy intensive of PV installations—dominate the market because they are the most profitable to build. A deployment scheme designed to reward EROI instead would shift the calculus, says Pearce: “Before a single centralized PV facility was erected, we would have thin-film PV panels integrated into every appropriate rooftop.”
Read more at IEEE Spectrum, by Peter Fairley