.
2/10/13, "Solar Industry Grapples With Hazardous Wastes," AP, Jason Dearen, via ABC News
"Homeowners on the hunt for sparkling solar panels are lured by ads
filled with images of pristine landscapes and bright sunshine, and words
about the technology's benefits for the environment — and the wallet. What customers may not know is that there's a dirtier side.
While solar is a far less polluting energy source than coal or natural
gas, many panel makers are nevertheless grappling with a hazardous waste
problem. Fueled partly by billions in government incentives, the
industry is creating millions of solar panels each year and, in the
process,
millions of pounds of polluted sludge and contaminated water.
To dispose of the material, the companies must transport it by truck or
rail far from their own plants to waste facilities hundreds and, in some
cases, thousands of miles away.
The fossil fuels used to transport that waste, experts say, is not
typically considered in calculating solar's carbon footprint,
giving
scientists and consumers who use the measurement to gauge a product's
impact on global warming the impression that solar is cleaner than it
is.
After installing a solar panel, "it would take one to three months of
generating electricity to pay off the energy invested in driving those
hazardous waste emissions out of state," said Dustin Mulvaney, a San
Jose State University environmental studies professor who conducts
carbon footprint analyses of solar, biofuel and natural gas production.
The waste from manufacturing has raised concerns within the industry,
which fears that the problem, if left unchecked, could undermine solar's
green image at a time when companies are facing stiff competition from
each other and from low-cost panel manufacturers from China and
elsewhere....
The increase in solar hazardous waste is directly related to the
industry's fast growth over the past five years — even with solar
business moving to China rapidly, the U.S. was a net exporter of solar
products by $2 billion in 2010, the last year of data available. The
nation was even a net exporter to China.
New companies often send hazardous waste out of their plants because
they have not yet invested in on-site treatment equipment, which allows
them to recycle some waste.
Nowhere is the waste issue more evident than in California, where
landmark regulations approved in the 1970s require industrial plants
like solar panel makers to report the amount of hazardous materials they
produce, and where they send it. California leads the consumer solar
market in the U.S. — which doubled overall both in 2010 and 2011.
The Associated Press compiled a list of 41 solar makers in the state,
which included the top companies based on market data, and startups. In
response to an AP records request, the California Department of Toxic
Substances Control provided data that showed 17 of them reported waste,
while the remaining did not.
The same level of federal data does not exist.
The state records show the 17 companies, which had 44 manufacturing
facilities in California, produced 46.5 million pounds of sludge and
contaminated water from 2007 through the first half of 2011. Roughly 97
percent of it was taken to hazardous waste facilities throughout the
state, but more than 1.4 million pounds were transported to nine other
states: Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Nevada, Washington,
Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
Several solar energy experts said they have not calculated the
industry's total waste and were surprised at what the records showed.
Solyndra, the now-defunct solar company that received $535 million in
guaranteed federal loans, reported producing about 12.5 million pounds
of hazardous waste, much of it carcinogenic cadmium-contaminated water,
which was sent to waste facilities from 2007 through mid-2011....
The records also show several other Silicon Valley solar facilities
created millions of pounds of toxic waste without selling a single solar
panel, while they were developing their technology or fine-tuning their
production.
While much of the waste produced is considered toxic, there was no evidence it has harmed human health.
The vast majority of solar companies that generated hazardous waste in
California have not been cited for waste-related pollution violations,
although three had minor violations on file.
In many cases, a toxic sludge is created when metals and other toxins
are removed from water used in the manufacturing process. If a company
doesn't have its own treatment equipment, then it will send contaminated
water to be stored at an approved dump.
According to scientists who conduct so-called "life cycle analysis" for
solar, the transport of waste is not currently being factored into the
carbon footprint score, which measures the amount of greenhouse gases
produced when making a product.
Life cycle analysts add up all the global warming pollution that goes
into making a certain product — from the mining needed for components to
the exhaust from diesel trucks used to transport waste and materials.
Not factoring the hazardous waste transport into solar's carbon
footprint is an obvious oversight, analysts said.
"The greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting this waste is not insignificant," Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney noted that shipping, for example, 6.2 million pounds of waste
by heavy-duty tractor-trailer from Fremont, Calif., in the San Francisco
Bay area, to a site 1,800 miles away could add 5 percent to a
particular product's carbon footprint....
The roughly 20-year life of a solar panel still makes it some of the
cleanest energy technology currently available. Producing solar is still
significantly cleaner than fossil fuels....
Environmental advocates say the solar industry needs greater
transparency, which is getting more complicated as manufacturing moves
from the U.S. and Europe to less regulated places such as China and
Malaysia.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a watchdog group created in 1982 in
response to severe environmental problems associated with the valley's
electronics industry, is now trying to keep the solar industry from
making similar mistakes through a voluntary waste reporting "scorecard."
So far, only 14 of 114 companies contacted have replied. Those 14 were
larger firms that comprised 51-percent of the solar market share.
"We find the overall industry response rate to our request for
environmental information to be pretty dismal for an industry that is
considered 'green,'" the group's executive director, Sheila Davis, said
in an email.
While there are no specific industry standards, Smirnow, head of the
solar industry association, is spearheading a voluntary program of
environmental responsibility. So far, only seven of the group's nearly
81 manufacturers have signed the pledge.
"We want (our program) to be more demanding, but this is a young
industry and right now manufacturing companies are focused on survival,"
he said." via Free Republic
.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment