I am
against excessive usage of fossil fuels that emits great amount of carbon in to
the atmosphere and the way of their extraction, it means oil, bitumen sands
extraction and coal mining as the process pollutes the environment and directly
negatively affects animals and people in the proximity of workings.
Nevertheless, I am bit doubtful about the harmlessness (from the point of view
of pollution of the environment) of renewable energy plants and mainly
photovoltaic panels.
The average annual electricity
consumption in the US is approximately 4000 TWhr, to generate this amount of
electricity the area of 35100 km2 (or to better imagination of the
area 106 km in radius; both measures are averages) of solar photovoltaic
panels would be needed (photovoltaic panels generate app. 5-20 W/m2).
For comparison oil and coal fields would take up on average 91km2 (5
km in radius) of land. There are several shortages of renewable energy sources and
that is e.g. they have intermittent and variable output relative to society’s
continuous demand for constant energy flows and geography where energy from
renewable sources can be generated is mismatched. [1]
There is no doubt that solar
energy flow for electricity is clean and free of charge. But production and out-of-use
photovoltaic panels are unquestionably harmful for our planet. What I would
like to highlight in the article is the flip side of the photovoltaic panels.
Firstly, in order to dispose used or ship new solar panels the companies must
transport them from hundreds to thousands of miles far away from their plants. They
transport it by truck or rail while, of course, using fossil fuels. Secondly, as
any technique also panel manufacturing produces waste and in hunt for low‑cost
panels the solar business has grown rapidly and panels are also manufactured in
China where environmental protection is not taken as much into account. The
lifetime of photovoltaic panel is roughly 30 years and depends mainly on its
quality. In Europe there exist several companies dealing with recycling of the end-of-life
PV modules.[2] But
the recycling of hazardous waste is still problematic also in Europe but
significantly more in the USA. Thirdly, some companies create great amount of
toxic waste without selling a single solar panel. To produce the panel many
barrels of water are needed and water is contaminated through the process of
manufacturing. To conclude, if renewable solar energy would be energy of future
many problems must be solved. Mainly the efficiency of any renewable power
plant and the hazardous waste and carbon footprint it generates while
transporting.
For more information
check:
The Hazardous Waste Of Solar Panels (Hank
Campbell)
Colorado orders Abound Solar to clean up
hazardous waste at four sites;
Solar industry grapples with hazardous waste;(An
example from California)
PV CYCLE; An European association dealing with
discarding of end-of-life photovoltaic modules in sustainable and
cost-effective way.
http://www.pvcycle.org/
This is very interesting. In one of my other classes my professor also stated the downsides of PV panels, not from their end-of-line downturns, but how putting them on the ground reduces land for ecosystems. Solar energy seemed like an interesting idea, but I feel we need to look for yet another alternative energy source. I'm not entirely sure if we'll ever find anything entirely environmental friendly for an energy source.
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