Solar energy not so Renewable
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Risks Report, The failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change will be “the most impactful risk” facing communities worldwide in the coming decade.
The major cause accredited to climate change is the greenhouse gas emission caused mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas for electricity, heat, and transportation. In order to mitigate emissions great minds have come up with the alternative renewables like solar, wind, tidal, hydro energies etc. and out of this solar have found its application in various sector of society and economy.
The solar fuel generated using solar panels is not so Renewable and environmentally friendly which is in contrast with the general notion in the greater population.
Solar fuel is one most diluted and unreliable source of energy which require clearing of a large area often destroying the natural habitats for the production of a significant amount of energy. The deserts are often easy targets to be labelled as “unused land” and are encroached, destroying the large desert ecosystem in Ivanpah solar farm in California USA the desert tortoise were literally pulled off from the ground the baby tortoises were separated from mother tortoises detached from their barrows, migrated resulting in the death of a significant number of tortoises. It is estimated that around 6000 birds die annually due to heat strike of the solar panels. Integrating solar farms with wind turbines have led to the death of some very rare species of birds including eagles, condors, kites. The charanak solar Project Gujarat, as reported by scroll includes a significant amount of pastoral land out of its huge 5384 acres. The very conspicuous question which strikes in our mind is that- “In efforts to save our climate are we destroying our environment?
Another issue of grave concern is the manufacturing of solar panels. The National Geographic reported in 2014 that almost all solar Photo Voltaic (PV) modules use at least one rare or precious metal like silver, tellurium or indium.which in long term can cause scarcity of the precious metals said Dustin Mulvaney, an assistant professor of environmental studies at San José State University. The PV cells also use elements like lead, chromium, cadmium Most of these can devastate wildlife and even kill humans when they leach into groundwater. The carbon footprint of one photovoltaic cell is more than what it actually reduces since the major element used today is silicon which requires extensive energy for the production of PV cell and Countries like CHINA which are the key player in this industry are heavily dependent on fuel from coal causing greenhouse gas emission. Christiana Nunez, where she argues how the coalition of Solar panel manufacturers have made the process of manufacturing solar panel more and more opaque over the period of time. The regulation and manufacturing standards are being compromised by manufactures the article alleges.
While talking about solar as a viable alternative and a renewable source would be unenlightened irony. Michael Shellenberger, Revered environmentalist has found that “solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants”.The point of concern for solar panels is there life-time which is approximate 20–25 years and yet there is no full-proof plan how to recycle, dispose, or dismantle them. There have been reports of illegal dumping of panels from China, the hub of solar manufacturing. According to a 2015 United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report, somewhere between 60 and 90 per cent of electronic waste is illegally traded and dumped in poor nations like Ghana, Nigeria, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India which have been primary e-waste destinations and Many Experts Predicts that 20–25 years down the line the solar waste from western world gonna be shipped to this countries for purpose of dismantling exposing millions of people to toxic radiation.
The need of an hour is to have more far-sighted, truly sustainable and more environment and climate-friendly approach its time to move from matter-dense fuels(coal, natural gas, fossils) to energy-dense fuels (nuclear) and to look for other feasible and viable alternatives and the developing countries like India in South-Asia which are leading on the solar energy front must adopt proper policy reforms in e-waste dumping and must regulate policies related with solar panel manufacturing , disposal and recycling and the World Solar community must stand up and acknowledge this horrendous danger growing in our lap and should work on making the manufacturing process more sustainable and transparent , developing Proper waste disposal mechanism , maintaining high standards of regulations and look for the viability of full or partial recycling.
