In recent years, millions of solar panels have been placed on roofs around the world. Discuss how safe are they? Discuss the hidden pollution caused by solar panels.
I disagree will Babawale post as at what human cost are solar panels safe to install and the pollutants they produce to manufacture. Yes solar panels are a renewable energy sector growing at a fast rate, with millions of panels being installed worldwide. It’s a clean alternative from fossil fuels and coal, pollutant free with no carbon monoxide being produced, an endless supply as long as there is sunlight.
The pollution from manufacturing solar panels is an area of content in, a small village in East China’s Zhejiang Province claim the pollutants from the factory have killed large volume of swath of fish in a nearby river.
Chen Hongming, a deputy head of Haining’s environmental protection bureau, said the factory’s waste disposal had failed the pollution tests since April.
To produce solar panels requires the production of pollutants in the environment, solar panels consists of rare materials that require to be mined and processed causing damage to the environment so where is the benefit, it comes as a cost to produce. Is it a short term loss for a long term gain?
A report by the European Commission Joint Research Centre has identified five rare earth metals in danger of shortages. Two of these materials are required for solar energy development. Reference: The Hidden Truth about Solar Energy | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/the-hidden-truth-about-solar-energy-a397269#ixzz27z8C13rs
Solar panels and installed on roof tops and require men and woman to work at height, each year 30 Australian workers have fell to their death, including people being electrocuted when coming into contact with power lines, the statistics are still fresh and roofing is becoming more dangerous than mining.
‘Because of our propensity to put panels on roofs, solar is in fact, far more dangerous than many forms of power generation, three times more dangerous than wind power and more than 10 times more dangerous than nuclear power, by comparison to the amount of power produced’.
Figures from USA show 50 people have already died installing 1.5 million solar panels which is more than Chernobyl. Solar power may be safer to the environment but it come at a high human cost to install and this doesn’t included the maintenance upkeep as it currently new technology. It’s more dangerous than nuclear, even after the disaster at the Fukushima reactor plant in Japan.
Reference: http://asiancorrespondent.com/54571/green-deaths-the-forgotten-dangers-of-solar-panels/
Alan Benedetti