Impacts of Solar Power Generation on the Environment

Unlike the technologies which are based on the fossil and fuels

, solar power does not cause any harmful emission while it is being generated. However, the production of photovoltaic panels from solar power leads to some amount of pollution but it is almost negligible.

Life cycle of the emissions of the greenhouse gases are now in the range of 25-32 g/kWh and this is expected to decrease to 15 g/kWh in the future. For the comparison of weighted averages, a combined cycle of the gas-fired power plant emits some 400-599 g/kWh along with an oil-fired power plant emitting 893 g/kWh and a coal-fired power plant emitting 915-994 g/kWh or with a carbon capture and storage some 200 g/kWh including a geothermal power plant of high-temperature emitting 91-122 g/kWh. However, only wind and geothermal energies that have low-temperature are better as they emit 11g/kWh and 0-1 g/kWh on average. If the energy needed to mine uranium is included along with the energy-intensity of the construction of the power plant and it's decommissioning, nuclear power plants' life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions are placed by some below 40 g/kWh, yet others give them higher figures than the mentioned ones. Carbon emissions would be dropped even more by using the renewable sources of energy like solar power in manufacturing and transportation. BP Solar owns two factories that deal in generating solar power. They are built by Solarex of which, one is in Maryland and the other is in Virginia. In these factories, all of the energy or solar power is used for manufacturing solar panels and is produced by solar panels. A 1-kilowatt system helps in eliminating the burning of approximately 170 pounds of coal and also 300 pounds of carbon dioxide, thereby preventing them from being released into the atmosphere. It also saves up to 105 gallons of water consumption in one month.

Cadmium and the use of cadmium telluride solar cells powered by solar power often raise issues of concern. This is because cadmium is a toxic substance in its metallic form. The worst part is that it has the tendency to accumulate itself in the ecological food chains. Also the thin films of the photovoltaic modules use a relatively small amount of cadmium that is approximately 5-10 g/m. This is done with a proper technique of controlling the emission from module production which can be almost zero. Current technologies of photovoltaic lead to the cadmium emissions of almost 0.3-0.9 microgram/kWh. This amount of the emissions is applicable to the entire life cycle. Most of these emissions are actually a result of coal power. Coal power is used in the manufacture of the modules, and coal and lignite combustion which leads to much higher emissions of cadmium. The life-cycle cadmium emissions from coal are that of 3.1 microgram/kWh while that of lignite is 6.2 and natural gas is 0.2 microgram/kWh.

It must be noted that if the electricity which is being produced by the photovoltaic panels is used in manufacturing the modules instead of using electricity from burning coal, then the cadmium emissions from the usage of coal power could be absolutely eliminated resulting in a cleaner and greener environment.

Impacts of Solar Power Generation on the Environment

By: jeena gill

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