The darker side of solar power
It’s not clear if these voters would be as gung-ho about solar power, however, if they considered the environmental implications of its expansion. The industry doesn’t talk much, or at all, about the downsides of manufacturing solar panels or where all these panels will end up when they conk out. Think of how much toxic waste is generated by consumer electronics and you get a small inkling of what a world lit with solar power, and the batteries needed to store their energy, might look like.
Solar
power is still a marginal energy source, accounting for about 1 per cent
of global electricity production. Yet, its environmental impact is
already considerable, according to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
The San Francisco-based group started out three decades ago tracking the
e-waste produced by high-tech industry. It now produces an annual Solar Scorecard
on panel manufacturers that depicts an industry that has got worse over
time. Most producers refuse to provide any environmental data on their
supply chains or manufacturing operations at all.
“We
need to take action now to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in
[photovoltaic production], develop responsible recycling systems and
protect workers throughout the global PV supply chain,” the coalition
said in its latest report.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-darker-side-of-solar-power/article24649804/
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