The carbon cost of a PhD in solar cell materials

TL;DR

This paper estimates the carbon footprint of a PhD in solar cell research, highlighting the significant GHG emissions from research activities and emphasizing the moral responsibility of scientists to reduce their environmental impact.

Contribution

It provides a detailed case study quantifying the GHG emissions associated with scientific research in photovoltaics, an area previously lacking such comprehensive analysis.

Findings

Research activities significantly increase individual carbon footprints.

Scientists have a moral obligation to reduce emissions in their work.

The carbon footprint of a PhD in solar cell research exceeds that of an average person.

Abstract

Scientific research can bring about important progress in developing renewable energy technology such as solar cells. However, in addition to positive impact, research also comes at a cost, and one such cost is the CO$_2$ footprint associated with doing research and producing technologies. Here, as an example of such a cost, I estimate the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with my PhD, in which I researched computational and experimental design of thin film materials for photovoltaics. I consider supercomputer power, synchrotron beam time, laboratory synthesis and characterization, travel associated with research, and personal emissions over the course of my PhD. This analysis demonstrates that doing science increases my carbon footprint to much higher than an average American. Because our consumption is so high, scientists have a moral imperative to reduce our own emissions in our laboratories and in the technologies we create.