Solar Power Panel Pollution

According to cancer biologist david h.

Solar power panel pollution.

The problem of solar panel waste is now becoming evident. We need some honest math now before it s too late to turn back. Solar energy systems power plants do not produce air pollution water pollution or greenhouse gases. They also contain lead cadmium and other toxic even carcinogenic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel.

As environmental journalist emily folk admits in renewable energy magazine when talking about renewable energy the topic of waste does not often appear she attributes this to the supposed pressures of climate change and alleged urgency to find alternative energy sources saying people may thus be hesitant to discuss. Worse rainwater can wash many of these toxics out of the fragments of solar modules over time. Nguyen phd toxic chemicals in solar panels include cadmium telluride copper indium selenide cadmium gallium di selenide copper indium gallium di selenide hexafluoroethane lead and polyvinyl fluoride. Using solar energy can have a positive indirect effect on the environment when solar energy replaces or reduces the use of other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment.

Solar panels generate 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants. They are omitting the pollution and disposal costs as well as habitat losses solar heat islands and the need for backup power generation or batteries to lowball the true costs of intermittent season latitude and weather dependent solar.