We show that the number of extracted charge carriers is a suitable measure to compare lifetime measurements on organic solar cells at different intensities. In detail, we used pin-structures with active layers containing a bulk heterojunction of Zincphthalocyanine (ZnPc) and C(60). Extended lifetime measurements under constant monochromatic or white illumination at defined temperatures of 50 degrees C or 90 degrees C are done. On the one hand, we show that the number of extracted charge carriers is important to determine the degree of degradation. On the other hand, our results show that the energy of irradiated photons is significant for accelerated measurements. This is an major advantage for the realisation of accelerated lifetime measurements. Additionally, we find that not single charge carriers, but excitons cause the degradation of the observed solar cells. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.