If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic Waste?

Forbes ^ | May 23, 2018 | Michael Shellenberger

[the OlLine Rebel]

You seem to be talking about the CELLS. There is much more to any module or assembly than just the root technology. An internal combustion engine is much more than just the cylinders that hold the gas mixture and spark that pushes the pistons. I’m no expert on solar but having engineered circuit boards Most of my career, I know there is much to them and the assemblies holding them that make them useful.

[null and void]

I presume that the process is similar to chip fabrication and some unhealthy chemicals are used.

Yes, most unhealthy chemicals are used up in the processes.

Spent residues are generally much less toxic, and at least in the western world are are treated to neutralize and/or sequester the remainder.

Solvents that are not used up are either re-distilled and reused (usually in industries less sensitive to ppb contaminants), or destroyed in high temperature incinerators.

In China? Who knows? Probably added to products shipped elsewhere, if they can make a fraction of a yuan per ton more than they would just dumping it into the nearest river or on the ground. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Ernest Lorentz!)

[null and void]

I am.

[null and void]

Common problematic impurities in [float] glass include plastics, lead, cadmium and antimony.”

I am curious to know what plastics survive remelting cull to make glass.

[Norseman]

Next up: Many of those massive blades on windmills are not recyclable and are difficult and expensive to landfill.

[a fool in paradise]

Leftists only want Iran to have nuclear power.

[Cobra64]

Yup. I have solar panels on my house.

[null and void]

Me too, at least on my old house in California. It doesn’t pencil here with the lower energy rates.

[null and void]

Plus, a bank of batteries lightning off is someone’s basement will make a natural gas explosion look like a match stick in comparison to a stick of dynamite.

I'd rather have my neighbor's house burn down than explode, if I have to choose one or the other.

[Truthoverpower]

Exactly. This is all
Bull crap.

There’s no argument against photovoltaics. None

[GingisK]

People should not eat glass and similar materials.

[null and void]

See posts 7 and 28.

[palmer]

There’s no argument against photovoltaics. None

There's one single argument against photovoltaics: they get better. If you buy them today, they will waste space in 20 years. That might not matte to some buyers but it will to businesses. There are many 20 year old panels being scapped (available onsite for free). They produce about 40W (originally 50) in a size that will produce about 200W now. But so many are damaged you end up with a loss once you pay for shipping.

[Starstruck]

Same with all those curly que lights that contain mercury. They all will eventually break. Nice going Greenies.

[Calamari]

Here’s a list from my wafer fabrication days:

HF
HNO3
Fuming HNO3
H2SO4
HCl aqueous and gaseous
Aqua-regia
Wet Silicon etch
H3PO4
NH4OH
30% H2O2
AsH3
PH3
SbH3
BBr3
TEOS
SiH4
As2O3
Sb2O3
SiCl4
SiCl2H2 (Diclorosilane)
POCl3
Etyleneglycol-monomethyl-ether
HDMS
Photo-resist positive and negative
Photo-resist developers both aqueous alkaline and organic solvent based.
Photo-resist strippers J100, Burmar, Acetone, Karos etch, Chromic acid.
Etc.

[Calamari]

Fab guy?!

Started at GE Electronics Park near Syracuse. Finished at Sony (previously AMD plant) in San Antonio, TX. Has a few stops in between. GE, General Instruments, Fairchild, AMD.

[null and void]

BBr₃ and POCl₃? You must be old!

By wet silicon etch do you mean HF-Nitric, HF-Nitric-Acetic, KOH, TMAH, or?

Did you ever etch Nitinol?

An accident with HF-Nitric-Acetic earned me a free trip to the hospital. All's well that ends well, and only your dentist can give your teeth a better fluoride treatment...

[minnesota_bound]

“organic solar panels”
I gotta get me some at Whole Solar Panels : )

[fella]

Toxic waste settling pond In Baotou, Inner Mongolia for by-products of rare earths processing. used in the manufacturing of all our Tech Toys such as Solar panels, big wind turbines, cell phones, computers and a plethora of other things. Satellite view

[Calamari]

“BBr3 and POCl3? You must be old!”

Maybe so. But you got to put the Isolation, bases and emmiters in the circuits.
Also worked in the yellow lights. A place almost as feared as the epitaxial area. (;>)

“By wet silicon etch do you mean HF-Nitric, HF-Nitric-Acetic, KOH, TMAH, or?”

HF-Nitric-with a little Iodine mainly used on some diffusion tubes.

“Did you ever etch Nitinol?”

No. Did do some patterning on Tin doped Indium Oxide using powdered zinc to accelerate the etch rate.

“An accident with HF-Nitric-Acetic earned me a free trip to the hospital. All’s well that ends well, and only your dentist can give your teeth a better fluoride treatment...”

Pretty lucky!

Did have a coworker ignore proper transport procedure for a couple of bottles of Conc. H2SO4 (not in rubber buckets). Some how one bottle clanked the other, it broke, went down the front of his pants, he slipped in the puddle, sat in it, and was screaming and smoldering before he got to the safety shower. He was gone for a while.
And operators with few HF burns from not checking their protective gloves for leaks. One Silane fire in an exhaust duct that was also being used to vent nitrogen from some other equipment that form a muffle until it found a source of oxygen further down the duct. That took a few days to clean up after.