[redcap]

2) Does that include the carbon cost of manufacturing, distributing and installing the tiles?

[philipkglass]

Yes. Hit up Google Scholar with "life cycle", "co2", and "photovoltaic" as terms if you want to understand in more detail.

This report looks pretty good if you want just one document: https://www.nachhaltigwirtschaften.at/resources/iea_pdf/repo...

It's from the International Energy Agency and it is recent (which is important, because commercial PV technology is evolving rapidly).

[tux1968]

You have to manufacture, distribute, and install tar shingles too. Is there some reason to think these costs would be higher for solar tech?

[redcap]

I presume there's a difference in manufacturing between these tiles and normal tiles.

I also presume there's CO2 costs involved in manufacturing solar cells that aren't present in normal shingles.

[tux1968]

Perhaps, although i'm quite skeptical about a difference in distribution and installation. And even in the case of manufacturing, one must only consider the delta between them rather than full cost of manufacturing solar.

[rconti]

Possibly. I'm sure solar is resource intensive. OTOH, tar shingles are literally made of petroleum, which is not great either.