Studies of popular renewable energy systems show that cumulative energy demand (CED) can be understood as a kind of simplifying life cycle assessment [1] where the accounting of energy and material inputs is seen as part of an inventory analyses and the calculation of CED as a rough form of impact assessment. Within this research project, three grid-connected photovoltaic systems (sc-Si, pc-Si and a-Si based) are examined in regard to CED and cumulative emissions. The production of these systems was chosen to take place in seven European countries: Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Austria and Sweden. Due to the fact that electricity demand does play a major role in production of photovoltaics and that power generation differs throughout these countries CED varies from about 23,200 to 65,200 MJ/kWp. The cumulative emissions (CEm) were found to lie between about 900 and 4000 kg CO2/kWp, 1.9 and 5.5 kg NOx/kWp and 2.4 and 4.8 kg SO2/kWp. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.