Sunday, September 18, 2011

Paging environmentalists: Solar power to result in 2,500,000 tons of toxic lead emissions in China & India alone

Solar power’s leaden footprint

(Science News 9/17/11) Plans by China and India to green their electricity generation could leave a very toxic footprint, a new study finds. U.S. researchers identified emissions rates for lead associated with mining, its use in batteries and battery recycling in China and other developing nations. Then the scientists applied those figures to the battery loads needed as energy storage to support the photovoltaic power goals of 1.6 gigawatts for China and 12 gigawatts for India within a decade. Achieving these targets would likely end up releasing almost 2,500 kilotons of lead into the nations’ environments, the researchers report in the September Energy Policy.

2 comments:

  1. Installing solar panel is indeed a good investment. You do not only save with your electric bills, you also help in conserving energy. This is eco-friendly too and does not cause any pollution.

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  2. Making solar panels from scratch needs high toxic chemicals that could harm the environment. These solar panel-making companies should really try to get an ISO 14001 Training to know the possible harms they can cause in our environment.

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