Pollution involved in manufacturing solar cells

[Doctor Cynic]

Solar power is always seen as something green and non-polluting and fuzzy. However, this study finds that the manufacturing of solar cells is very, very, very, dirty. Just think of the mining of ore, the processing to produce silicon and the doping process, and all the plastics involved. It's similar to the manufacturing computer parts. Also, the energy involved consumes so much energy that solar power could actually be as polluting as oil or even coal!

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/03/the-ugly-side-o.html

What frightens me is that China plans to ramp up renewable energy and thus allow consumers everywhere to pay made-in-China prices to project themselves as green! It could be like fuelling your car with ethanol and thinking it's eco-friendly!

Clearly this fits into the big picture of cleaning up industry if we want solar power to truly be green.

[Radical Activist]

1. god I hate these articles.

Its as though people think they're so clever that they found out manufacturing ANYTHING causes pollution, but I find it annoyingly defeatist and cynical. For every environmental solution there's a cynic telling us why nothing we do ever helps. EVER! So why bother doing anything, right?

Why doesn't the article talk about better manufacturing processes? Why make the vague accusation that they "may" be as polluting as coal or oil? Do they pollute less or not? If they do pollute as much then cite a serious study to prove it.

[physioex]

3. Right, where is the cost benefit analysis?

How much resources did it take to manufacture this product and through the life of this product how much resources will be saved? This is the only way to objectively determine the overall impact of this product.

[suziedemocrat]

7. Good Point!

[physioex]

2. Funny thing about "Made in China"....

Is that things are a lot different historically from "Made in Japan". When companies like Toyota and Honda first came to the USA their cars were laughed at and were very low quality. But then the Japanese learned very quickly and became overall more environmentally friendly and high quality. The Chinese on the other hand have done none of this. It has basically been a race to the bottom. And till this very day nothing from China can be trusted. From lead based toys, phoney/dangerous pharmaceuticals, tainted pet food, and steroid/pesticide filled fish. So why should solar panels be any different?

I think the newer technology in solar panels do not use silicon since it is not efficient. Hopefully newer technology will replace silicon before solar goes mainstream.

[kristopher]

5. Actually, that isn't exactly true. Read this.

III.1 Economic Development and Environmental Protection
Marzio Galeotti


Abstract
There is a long-standing debate on the relationship between economic development
and environmental quality. From a sustainable development viewpoint there has
been a growing concern that the economic expansion of the world economy will
cause irreparable damage to our planet. In the last few years several studies have
appeared dealing the relationship between the scale of economic activity and the
level of pollution. In particular, if we concentrate on local pollutants several
empirical studies have identified a bell shaped curve for the pollution intensity of
GDP (in the case of global pollutants like CO2 the evidence is less clear-cut). This
behavior implies that, starting from low per capita income levels, per capita
emissions or concentrations tend to increase but at a slower pace. After a certain
level of income (which typically differs across pollutants) – the “turning point” –
pollution starts to decline as income further increases. In analogy with the historic
relationship between income distribution and income growth, the inverted-U
relationship between per capita income and pollution has been termed
“Environmental Kuznets Curve”. The purpose of this chapter is not to provide an
overview the literature: there are several survey papers around doing precisely that.
We instead reconsider the explanations that have been put forth for its inverted-U
pattern. We look at the literature from this perspective. In addition, without resorting
to any econometric estimation, we consider whether simple data analysis can help to
shed some light on the motives that can rationalize the Environmental Kuznets
Curve

[losthills]

4. Yeah, and Al Gore increased global warming

by writing An Inconvenient Truth.

Whatever blows yer skirt up......

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Photovoltaic Cells Are Still Very Green, Comparative Test Shows

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=135415&mesg_id=135415

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es071763q.html

ASAP Environ. Sci. Technol., ASAP Article, 10.1021/es071763q
Web Release Date: February 6, 2008
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society

Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles

Vasilis M. Fthenakis,*†‡ Hyung Chul Kim,† and Erik Alsema§

PV Environmental Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, Center for Life Cycle Analysis, Columbia University, New York, New York, and Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands

Received for review July 17, 2007

Revised manuscript received December 19, 2007

Accepted January 4, 2008

Abstract:

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies have shown remarkable progress recently in terms of annual production capacity and life cycle environmental performances, which necessitate timely updates of environmental indicators. Based on PV production data of 2004–2006, this study presents the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutant emissions, and heavy metal emissions from four types of major commercial PV systems: multicrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, ribbon silicon, and thin-film cadmium telluride. Life-cycle emissions were determined by employing average electricity mixtures in Europe and the United States during the materials and module production for each PV system. Among the current vintage of PV technologies, thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV emits the least amount of harmful air emissions as it requires the least amount of energy during the module production. However, the differences in the emissions between different PV technologies are very small in comparison to the emissions from conventional energy technologies that PV could displace. As a part of prospective analysis, the effect of PV breeder was investigated. Overall, all PV technologies generate far less life-cycle air emissions per GWh than conventional fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies. At least 89% of air emissions associated with electricity generation could be prevented if electricity from photovoltaics displaces electricity from the grid.

...