How solar panels reduce your carbon footprint

• Solar panels can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint, primarily through cutting emissions created by burning fossil fuels.

• The carbon payback period for solar panels typically ranges from one and a half to three years.

• Research has shown that investing in solar technology often inspires people to engage in other carbon-reducing habits.

Most people know that on some general level, solar energy has a lot of environmental benefits. But fewer people are aware of just how significant an impact solar panels can have on your carbon footprint, or the specific ways in which they do so.

In this article, we examine how solar panels reduce your carbon footprint and by how much. You’ll also learn some of the less obvious ways in which adopting solar technology can benefit the environment.

How solar panels reduce your carbon footprint

Solar panels reduce your environmental impact primarily by eliminating emissions caused by the harvesting and burning of fossil fuels. Photovoltaic systems do not rely on resources that need to be mined or extracted and then transported to power plants. 

In addition, the process of generating electricity in PV systems does not require combustion, which creates carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions as a byproduct to generate electricity. Energy created by solar panels is both clean and renewable.

Cutting emissions and therefore reducing greenhouse gases has the most substantial effect on your carbon footprint. However, there are other ways in which converting to solar energy has a positive impact on your contribution to the environment. We’ll explore those throughout this article.

Understanding your carbon footprint

The term “carbon footprint” is a metric used to assess the impact a person, business, or other entity has on the environment. It is measured in metric tons of CO₂ equivalent per year. The average carbon footprint of an individual living in the U.S. is 17.9 metric tons of CO₂ per year.

Your carbon footprint is made up of all of the things you do that create greenhouse gases. This includes transportation and food in addition to your home energy use. 

Installing solar panels is just one of the ways you can reduce your carbon footprint. In the table below, we’ve listed the environmental impact of several common scenarios along with the factors that enable and prevent carbon reduction.

Energy generation and carbon emissions

Traditional plants that power our grids still rely on the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas to generate electricity. Burning these materials emits high levels of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

The table below shows the emissions rates of the three main fossil fuel sources in terms of pounds of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

It’s not just the burning of these fossil fuels that generates greenhouse gases, either. Extracting fossil fuels through mining, drilling, fracking, and other methods also produces high levels of CO₂, as does processing them into usable forms. Transporting fossil fuels from the extraction site to processing facilities and power plants generates significant amounts of greenhouse gases as well. 

Solar power as a clean energy alternative

The carbon footprint of solar energy is a stark contrast to fossil fuel-based energy production. Solar power systems emit less than 50 gCO₂e/kWh (grams of CO₂ per kilowatt hour) while in operation. By comparison, burning coal to generate electricity generates an average of 820 gCO₂e/kWh—around 1,540% more than solar energy production.

Solar panels are not completely without a carbon footprint. Sourcing the raw materials to make photovoltaic cells and other components creates greenhouse emissions, as does the manufacturing and transportation of those panels. However, these emissions are offset by the reduction in the use of fossil fuels, with most panels becoming carbon-negative within three years of going into operation. 

Offsetting fossil fuel electricity with solar

Advances in solar technology, such as more efficient panels and high-capacity solar batteries, have enabled energy systems to generate and store more power than ever before. At the same time, more parts of the country have adopted net metering policies that allow homeowners with grid-tied solar systems to feed unused energy back to the grid. This has made it so that switching to solar doesn’t just reduce your household’s carbon footprint, it can also reduce your neighbors’ carbon footprint as well. 

Home solar energy systems can now act as mini power plants that can deliver electricity to the grid. This can reduce the demand for fossil-fuel-based power as residential and commercial solar systems contribute to the overall pool of electricity.

Each kilowatt-hour produced can replace electricity from fossil sources, which typically emit about 0.7 kg CO₂ per kWh (a common average for grid electricity).

A couple of offset scenarios are below, based on solar panel size:

• 7,500 kWh × 0.7 kg = 5,250 kg CO₂ ≈ 5.3 t/year

• 10,000 kWh × 0.7 kg = 7,000 kg CO₂ ≈ 7.0 t/year

Solar panel manufacturing and carbon payback

As we mentioned previously, solar panels do contribute some greenhouse gases in the process of making and transporting them. The primary source of emissions comes from producing them, especially during the process of refining silicon crystals to be used in photovoltaic cells. Mining these materials and transporting those materials as well as finished panels generates a smaller but still significant amount of emissions.

However, the emissions generated by solar panel production still pale in comparison to the burning of fossil fuels. Energy savings from using solar panels instead of fossil fuels for electricity can quickly offset their carbon footprint. The amount of time it takes for greenhouse gas reductions from solar panels to negate the emissions from manufacturing them is called the carbon payback period. With solar panels, the carbon payback period typically ranges from one and a half to three years.

And while producing solar panels does cause pollution and use resources, they get a lot of use for the environmental cost. Most solar panels have a life cycle of more than 25 years, providing decades of clean energy long after the carbon payback period has ended. Some solar panel parts are recyclable, though solar panels are disposed of without recycling in many cases.

Policy, location, and grid factors

Just how much solar panels can reduce your carbon footprint depends on a few factors about the area in which you live. One such factor is how far you live from the power plant and large transformers. Some electricity gets lost in transmission as it travels from the source to the end user, with more losses the longer the distance. That means that if you live far away from the plant, your carbon footprint reduction will be even greater when you switch to solar, which generates power on-site with virtually no loss in transmission.

The carbon intensity of your local grid—or the amount of greenhouse gases generated per kWh in a given area—is also a significant factor. Areas that rely on “dirtier” fuel sources like coal have a higher carbon intensity than those that rely on cleaner sources like natural gas. Your carbon footprint reduction is directly correlated with the carbon intensity of the grid energy you’re replacing.

State and local policy also play a role in the carbon savings for your area from solar adoption. Incentives for investing in renewable energy like solar power vary from one area to the next, with some states offering generous tax credits, rebates, and other incentives, and others offering nothing at all. These incentives can help accelerate solar adoption, reducing the carbon footprint of your area at scale.

Lifestyle and indirect emission reductions

Moving to solar can also have an impact outside of home energy usage. Studies have shown that people who employ solar technology are more likely to adopt other sustainable practices in their lives. 

In what is known as the “spillover effect,” people who commit to one low-carbon habit have a higher probability of taking on others. Research has shown that people who engage in sustainable energy practices are more likely to see themselves as pro-environmentalists, which motivates them to fulfill that identity through other practices.

Solar adoption also promotes investments in electric appliances. For example, homeowners can switch to heat pumps that run on “free” electricity from the solar energy system instead of natural gas, as traditional furnaces do. Electricity from solar systems can also power EVs, reducing the need for gasoline.

As demand for solar energy grows, we are likely to see even more innovation in technology that takes advantage of clean energy production.

Bottom line: Solar panels can lower your carbon footprint

Switching to solar energy can have a profound effect on your carbon footprint and the carbon footprint of the people around you. Solar panels reduce emissions in the short term by replacing fossil fuel energy and in the long term by reducing the need for continued investment in the sourcing, processing, and utilization of those fossil fuels for energy production.

FAQ about carbon footprint and solar panels

Below are a few frequently asked questions about solar panel carbon footprint:

What is the carbon footprint of a solar panel?

Solar panels have an average carbon footprint of around 41 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. This is much smaller than any fossil fuel-based energy.

Are solar panels really environmentally friendly?

Solar panels are environmentally friendly in comparison to energy derived from fossil fuels. However, they do generate carbon emissions during the extraction and processing of raw materials, as well as during the manufacturing process and when transported between locations.

How long does it take for a solar panel to offset its carbon footprint?

The average time for a solar panel to offset its carbon footprint is between one and a half and three years.