The Solar Of Solar Energy

But while generating electricity through photovoltaics is indeed better for the environment than burning fossil fuelsseveral incidents have linked the manufacture of these shining symbols of environmental virtue to a trail of chemical pollution. And it turns out that the time it takes to compensate for the energy used and the greenhouse gases emitted in photovoltaic panel production varies substantially by technology and geography.

That's the bad news. The good news is that the industry could readily eliminate many of the damaging side effects that do exist. Indeed, pressure for it to do so is mounting, in part because, since The Solar Of Solar Energy, photovoltaics manufacturing has moved from Europe, Japan, The Solar Of Solar Energy the United States to China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan; today nearly half the reincarnation judaism photovoltaics are manufactured in China. As a result, although the overall track record for the industry is good, the countries that produce the most photovoltaics today typically do the worst job of protecting the environment and their workers. To understand exactly what the problems are, and how they might be addressed, it's helpful to know a little something about how photovoltaic panels are made.

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While solar click here can be generated using a variety of technologies, the vast majority of solar cells today start as quartz, the most common form of silica silicon dioxidewhich is refined into elemental silicon. There's the first problem: The quartz is extracted from mines, putting the miners at risk of one of civilization's oldest occupational hazards, the lung disease silicosis.

The initial refining turns quartz into metallurgical-grade silicon, a substance used mostly to harden The Solar Of Solar Energy and other metals. That happens in giant furnaces, and keeping them hot takes a lot of energy, a subject we'll return to later. Fortunately, the levels of the resulting emissions—mostly carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide—can't do much harm to the people working at silicon refineries or to the immediate environment. The next step, however—turning metallurgical-grade silicon into a purer form called polysilicon—creates the very toxic compound silicon tetrachloride.

The refinement process involves combining hydrochloric acid with metallurgical-grade silicon to turn it into what are called trichlorosilanes. The trichlorosilanes then react with added hydrogen, producing polysilicon along with liquid silicon tetrachloride—three or four tons of silicon tetrachloride for every ton of polysilicon. Inhydrofluoric acid used by the company for solar-panel manufacturing contaminated river water, killing hundreds of fish and dozens of pigs.

Most manufacturers recycle this waste to make more polysilicon. Capturing silicon from silicon tetrachloride requires less energy than obtaining it from raw silica, so recycling this waste can save manufacturers money. But the reprocessing equipment can cost tens of millions of dollars. So some operations have just thrown away the by-product. If exposed to water—and that's hard to prevent if it's casually dumped—the silicon tetrachloride releases hydrochloric acid, acidifying the soil and emitting harmful fumes.

When the photovoltaics industry was smaller, the solar-cell manufacturers got their silicon from chipmakers, which rejected wafers that did not meet the computer industry's The Solar Of Solar Energy requirements. But the boom in photovoltaics demanded more than semiconductor-industry leftovers, and many new polysilicon refineries were built in China. Few countries at the time had stringent rules covering the storage and disposal of silicon Nations With A System Of Liberal Democracy waste, and China was no exception, as some Washington Post reporters discovered. The paper's investigation, published in Marchprofiled a Chinese polysilicon facility owned by Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co. This facility supplied polysilicon to Suntech Power Holdings, at the time the world's largest solar-cell manufacturer, as well as learn more here several other high-profile photovoltaics companies.

The reporters found that the company was dumping silicon tetrachloride waste on neighboring fields instead of investing in equipment that could reprocess it, rendering those fields useless for growing crops and inflaming the eyes and throats of nearby residents. And the article suggested that the company was not alone in this practice. After the publication of click Washington Post story, solar companies' stock prices fell. Investors feared the revelations would undermine an industry that relies so much on its green credentials. After all, that's what attracts most customers and draws public support for policies that foster the adoption of solar energy, such as the Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit in the United States. Those who purchase residential solar systems can subtract 30 percent of the cost from their tax bills until the incentive expires in To protect the industry's reputation, the manufacturers of photovoltaic panels began to inquire about the environmental practices of their polysilicon suppliers.

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Quotations, the situation is now improving. In China set standards requiring that companies recycle at least These standards are easy to meet so long as factories install the proper equipment. Yet it remains to be seen how well the rules are being enforced.

This problem could completely go away in the future.]

The Solar Of Solar Energy - theme

Utilities Are solar panels affordable? As they grow in popularity, solar panels costs have decreased, but the upfront investment could put many off. You can pay everything upfront or finance it, similar to a car note. It includes the cost of solar panels and other costs. Wolfe says the nonprofit helps educate people about the components and process of going solar through a co-op model. Nations With A System Of Liberal Democracy.