Talk:Solar vs Wind Materials Inputs
Neat infographic! Granted this stuff gets really trippy; what scale is counted in the cost? If the entire Semiconductor Fabrication Plant is counted, how does that compare to something more akin to a Fab Shop and Field Welds / albeit with More Extensive Construction rather than Installation.
This is me just thinking, not expert opinion, but i think wind turbines could be made with less of that infrastructure (short of maybe Solar Thermal , but then in most cases you are dealing with Dry Steam and Boilermaker level Welding / Brazing which can get funky). From the bits i saw on Sam Zeloof 's channel lots more is required at least for photovoltaics
Another interesting thing to throw into the mix would be Airborne Wind Turbines like Makani ; You have barely any of the Concrete and associated Mine Footprint (Both for the Limestone and the Sand Mining ), but then waaaaay more Plastics (For both the Fiber-Reinforced Plastic "Wing", and the Tether Cable), as well as potentially more wire, although Makani may have used the CF for electricity, that or copper or aluminum wire was in that bundle
Also one bit especially important with Intermittent Renewables is Levelized Cost of Storage LCOS , if the wind is more constant it may need less storage reducing cost / material use on that side.
Also the Land Use Change of a wind farm (posts, with certain limitations on what can be nearby, and how far away things must be) vs Solar Farms (unless Rooftop Solar only) which short of Agrovoltaics essentially use all of the land they are on for that once use. Although Wind Turbines have Some Issues with Bird Striked . Granted if i remember correctly the Solar Power Tower style Solar Thermal grid scale projects in the usa had to take precautions with desert wildlife, essentially having hatcheries for turtles, similar to the Salmon Hatcheries in response to The Hydroelectric Dams on Wildlife
Although to get a bit meta, LCAs and Carbon Accounting are trying to have our small minds understand the Superobject that is earth's biosphere + weather, and essentially predict the future, albeit with the help of computer models etc, so eventually you have to stop the Scope Creep in order to get something out of it rather than just endless pondering like this ^
All in all to summarize my ramblings i guess, this is great and i need to dive into it, but also it may not take into account all variables, as well as alternate design methods.
