<
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12102023/inside-clean-energy-reality-check-solar-panel-waste/>
"Having sat in many community hearings about solar power development, I am used
to vivid descriptions of how photovoltaic panels might as well be dripping with
harmful substances that will sicken people and livestock.
The concerns are pervasive, but almost completely separate from reality.
For example, one of the recurring issues raised against solar development is
the presence of cadmium in photovoltaic panels. But researchers have shown that
cadmium is present in only a small share of panels; it makes up 0.1 percent or
less of the mass of the panels in which it’s present; and the form of cadmium
sometimes used in panels is different and safer than the form that leads to
health concerns.
Annick Anctil, an engineering professor at Michigan State University, knows
this research because she’s done a lot of it herself. And she can see that
there is a disconnect between what experts know and what the public worries
about.
“The fact is, we haven’t communicated that information very well to a large
audience,” she said.
I got in touch with her this week to get her thoughts on a new opinion essay
published in the journal
Nature Physics that is a brief debunking of many of
the major concerns about the toxicity of solar panels and the growing volume of
panel waste."
Via
What Could Go Right? October 26, 2023:
https://theprogressnetwork.org/brazil-amazon-deforestation-slowing/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
