In article ,
Mike Spera wrote:

If I recall the article I read a few years back correctly, conventional
glass covered solar panels require more energy to make than they will
ever produce in their entire lives. Anyone have any data?

Energy payback is about a year. They have an official lifetime of 30
years*, so it's a 30-1 energy profit over their lifetimes.. This is about
on par with oil pumped from the mid east and better than anything else.
The worst is ethanol with a 1-1 energy profit.

(*that 30-year number is all the manufacturers are willing to guarantee.
I'm told that the actual number is closer to 250.)

--
-Ed Falk,
http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/