In the rush to ramp up the world’s supply of solar power, it’s easy to forget that the industry, like the computer industry before it, manufactures with materials that are toxic to the environment. That’s why a watchdog group, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) has released a report calling for greater responsibility in the industry, ranging from the handling of raw materials used in manufacturing to the development of recycling programs for panels taken out of service.
The group says it supports the industry and is not attempting to derail the progress of solar installations, but rather that it wants the industry to grow responsibly and learn from experiences of the computer industry, which has been mass producing similar products for more than 20 years.
"The fact is that solar is a very valuable technology that we hope will expand," Coalition Executive Director Sheila Davis said. "There’s a variety of different technologies that are emerging right now. And as companies drive down their costs and try to increase the efficiency of their panels, they should be trying to improve their environmental performance as well."
The report draws attention to some of the alternate materials used to create solar cells, instead of traditional silicon. Cadmium telluride, for example is highly toxic, and some solar companies are beginning to employ "nano" materials in the development of solar cells. The environmental and health risks of nano particles are only beginning to be understood.
The Coalition said it hopes that solar manufacturer’s will examine the full lifecycle impacts of their products to avoid environmental consequences that have resulted from industrial expansion in the past.
The full SVTC report can be found at the link below.
In March of 2008 The Washington Post reported that a Chinese manufacturing facility that has supplied major solar cell producers with polysilicon for solar cells was dumping a toxic byproduct on nearby agricultural land.
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