In a preproject the estimations completed on the efficiency potential did not include the energy consumption for the production of the WBG devices or the disposal of the semiconductor devices, or their materials (Si, SiC, GaN) as well as the passive, and cooling materials.

Other impacts of GaN and SiC to the environment have not yet been fully investigated in comparison to the use of classic Si based technology for the same applications. For example other effects would need to be considered, for example that by using WBG devices the whole system design could have reduced size and therefore generates less impact, even if semiconductor production might need more energy. These trade-offs need to be evaluated and this is an area of interest for PECTA. The idea is not to conduct LCAs that would demand extensive resources from PECTA, but to follow an approach similar to the one in the Solid State Lighting Annex Task LCA. In this work the focus is on compiling the available literature associated with already completed LCAs to answer key questions on the new lighting technologies based on light emitting diodes (LED) [1].

In a more in-depth analysis this shall be elaborated for the materials SiC and GaN, and should be considered in the energy related indicators, to make them more reliable and robust for analysis of more precise and accurate use scenarios of WBG.