17 October 2011

First Solar cuts its carbon emission intensity by 21% from 2008 to 2010

First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, which makes thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) as well as providing engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) services, has participated in and received a score on its inaugural response to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an organization that gathers and reports greenhouse-gas emissions for corporations around the world. First Solar says that it is the first company solely focused on solar development to have its response scored by CDP and included in CDP's 500 and Global 500 report.

First Solar’s Disclosure Score was in the top quartile of the 339 S&P 500 respondents. For 2010, its global operations generated greenhouse-gas emissions totaling about 194 metric tons of carbon dioxide emission equivalents (CO2e) per megawatt of modules produced, illustrating a reduction in carbon intensity of about 21% from 2008 to 2010. Also, the 3.3GW of modules produced by the firm through 2010 are being used globally to displace more than 2 million metric tons of CO2e emissions per year for their 25+ year product life.

The CDP was launched in 2000 to accelerate solutions to climate change by putting relevant information at the heart of business, policy and investment decisions, and it encourages companies to measure and manage their direct and indirect carbon emissions and broader environmental footprint in order to accelerate solutions to climate change. About 3000 organizations in 60 countries around the world now measure and disclose their greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change strategies through CDP so that they can set reduction targets and make performance improvements.

“Like CDP, we at First Solar are focused on accelerating solutions to climate change and have taken a leadership role in measuring and reporting our carbon footprint,” says Lisa Krueger, First Solar’s VP of sustainable development. “We encourage other solar power companies to help accelerate solutions to climate change by measuring and disclosing their life-cycle carbon footprint.”

First Solar claims that its thin-film PV technology has, on a life-cycle basis, the smallest carbon footprint and the fastest energy payback time of commercially available PV technologies, allowing PV to scale rapidly while achieving carbon reductions. The firm’s product life-cycle management approach also led to the development and implementation of what it says is the solar industry’s first pre-funded module collection and recycling program.

Tags: First Solar Thin-film photovoltaic CdTe

Visit: www.firstsolar.com

Visit: www.cdproject.net