Tuesday, June 29, 2010

What will our Children Do?

I keep seeing ads for solar panels. Pictures with solar panels installed on the roof of peoples homes. Pictures of solar panels in the yard with kids playing next to them. That got me to thinking...do people touting solar energy realize just how toxic it is to make a single solar panel. Do they understand how toxic the dust would be if they broke just one solar cell (there can be hundreds in a solar panel). What will our children do someday, then these panels break down or become obsolete and end up in the trash, just like our used cell phones and lap-top computers? Just how green are these solar panels in terms of the toxic waste generated during their creation and the disposal when they become old.

As with most "green" activities, I suspect this has not been thought through. Or maybe the thinking is similar to the Sierra Club's position on compact, energy saving light bulbs - we know they contain mercury, one of the most toxic substances known to man, but its' only a small amount of mercury (if you break a single light bulb in your home the mercury vapor level in will violate federal air quality standards) but its worth it.

Here's a better idea:

Has anyone noticed how windy it's been lately. I don't know if this is due to climate change or is the norm, but there's always some wind. Generating electricity with wind power (wind mills) is much more environmentally friendly than solar. No silicon wafer, solar panel cells need to be processed, a wind mill cost a LOT less than a solar panel, and wind mills often produce more power than solar panels.

I lived in a house that had both solar panels and a wind mill and often, even with the solar panels turning to track the sun, it was the wind mill that produced the most power.

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