Paper: solar industry not as clean as it needs to be

Hmm, it seems as though kicking this fossil fuel habit through renewables isn’t so straightforward after all: right on the heels of a report that home-based wind energy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be comes a new study exploring the dangers of toxic chemicals used in solar cells.

The new report, “Toward a Just and Sustainable Solar Energy Industry,” was prepared by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. The 45-page white paper points to a host of problems associated with the photovoltaics (PV) industry: dumping of toxic manufacturing byproducts in regulation-challenged parts of China, new solar innovations that rely on harmful materials like cadmium and selenium, the as-yet uncertain impact of nanomaterials on the environment and the use of sulphur hexafluoride — a compound with super-greenhouse gas power — for cleaning reactors used in silicon production.

“(A)s the solar PV sector expands, little attention is being paid to the potential environmental and health costs of that rapid expansion,” the paper’s executive summary notes. “With the solar PV sector still emerging, we have a limited window of opportunity to ensure that this extremely important industry is truly ‘clean and green,’ from its supply chains through product manufacturing, use, and end-of-life disposal.”

The report’s authors make six key recommendations to address such concerns: work to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of toxic materials in PV production, set standards to hold manufacturers accountable for the full lifecycle impacts of their products, conduct precautionary tests on all new and emerging materials and processes, expand and improve upon recyclability, focus on high-quality PV industry jobs that protect workers’ health and safety, and manage the entire supply chain to ensure the health and safety of communities around the globe.

The paper points to several such efforts already taking place, including the European Photovoltaic Industry Association’s and the German Solar Business Association’s endorsements of full lifecycle accountability, and a German firm that’s started a pilot effort to recycle used and defective solar panels into new ones.

Looks like the lesson of today’s reports is that nothing is ever as simple as it seems.