Do cheaper photovoltaics / solar come with a higher environmental price tag?
By Dustin Mulvaney
Posted 26 Aug 2014 | 15:00 GMT
Photovoltaic or solar panels glimmering in the sun are an icon of all that is green. But while generating electricity through photovoltaics is indeed better for the environment than burning fossil fuels. For several incidents have linked the manufacture of these shining symbols of environmental virtue to a trail of chemical pollution. And it turns out that the time it takes to compensate for the energy used and the greenhouse gases emitted. Especially in photovoltaics or solar panel production. For it varies substantially by technology and geography.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the industry could readily eliminate many of the damaging side effects that do exist. Indeed, pressure for it to do so is mounting.
Especially in part since 2008, photovoltaics manufacturing has moved from Europe, Japan, and the United States to China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. For today nearly half the world’s photovoltaics are manufactured in China. As a result, although the overall track record for the industry is good. So the countries that produce the most photovoltaics today typically do the worst job of protecting the environment and their workers.
