Amine El Aymani

Professor Whittet
ENGW 3302
February 22, 2016

SOLAR ENERGY: Negative impacts of Solar Panels on the environment.

Widespread fossil fuel consumption in almost all human behavior has led the world to
problems like global warming, climate change, and ozone depletion. These drastic changes to the
world created hype around going greenor finding ways to use clean and renewable energy
sources. It makes sense. The world does need to do some self-reflecting and rethinking on how to
best use energy sources. One of the popular energy sources is solar energy. Solar energy provides
considerable environmental benefits compared to the nonrenewable energy sources most of the
world consumes. Many times, though, the green movement focuses on the positive impacts on
the environment, allowing for the negative implications to be overlooked by industries, leading
to the everyday consumer thinking there are no consequences to the use of renewable energy.
This paper will take a look at the negative impacts solar energy has on the environment through
its production and operation and harm to endangered species.

During operation solar panels, cells do not emit any toxins or greenhouse gases into the
environment, but during production and maintenance, the environment takes some hits. Solar

energy systems are forward thinking and environmental friendly, but the energy needed for
production is still produced in conventional methods today. (Gunerhan) Harmful chemicals are
emitted as a by-product. An example of a component of these cells is the battery. They are a
nonrenewable, natural resource that has a short lifespan and include elements like cadmium. Also
during production, some toxic substances are placed into the cell modules (squares on the solar
panel made up of smaller squares, the solar cell) Nothing happens to these toxins while they are
inside the modules, but there is a risk of releasing the chemicals into the soil and groundwater if
a fire breaks out. (Gunerhan) A specific type of solar panels that is made of thin PV cells uses
chemicals like, gallium arsenide. If these chemicals are not disposed of properly they have
serious environmental and public health threats. There is also a risk of water pollution through
leaks that might occur. Moreover, the solar converters can reach a temperature up to 200C, if
there is a problem with the coolant. This creates a huge fire risk. Humans are not perfect and we
have to recognize the danger of these chemicals to be able to dispose of them properly.
Moreover, we could try to create an incentive to these chemicals. Operational systems should be
put into place in the case of an emergency or find a nontoxic replacement for the substances
inside the solar modules.

Solar panels do not only use toxins but also they require a lot of energy for
manufacturing. While there no greenhouse gases emitted by solar panels, there are emissions
associated with other stages of the solar life cycle. These include, manufacturing, materials
transportation, installation maintenance, decommissioning and dismantlement. It is estimated
that the life cycle emission for solar panels are between 0.07 and 0.18 pounds of carbon dioxide
equivalent per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. (UscUSA) The life cycle emissions are far less

than the lifecycle emissions of natural gas and coal. However, we should recognize that the life
cycle of a solar panel causes harm to the environment. Silicon is one the most important
materials used in the solar panels. To make a silicon based solar cell, a great amount of energy is
required. And the source of the energy that is used to make a silicon based solar cell is coal. The
behind the scenes of the manufacturing of solar panels is harmful to the environment. It is by
recognizing that this problem exists, that we can try to find a solution to solve.

Solar farms have a huge environmental impact on the land they are placed on. This is one
environmental impact of solar panels. The more energy, the more solar panels we need to install.
By doing this, we require more and more land, thus affecting the natural ecosystems. The
implementation of solar panels on cultivable land can have severe effects on the lands
productive areas. This is because solar farms cause the land around them to absorb more energy.
This causes a thermal imbalance which can also affect wildlife. Because of this abnormal
amount of heat that is being soaked up in a concentrated area, the topography of the land is
affected because its ecosystems and the biodiversity within those ecosystems are absorbing more
energy than normal affecting the lands thermal balance. (Gunerhan) Additional heat might
destroy a few species living in this kind of harsh environment.

Solar farms have a significant effect on wildlife, specifically, birds. Over 233 bird were
recovered from the sites of three Californian desert.(Scientific American) The endangerment of
these species is caused by the lake effect. The article states that the bird mistakes the solar panels
for a water body and they tend to head towards the solar panels. Because of the concentrated
beam of sun light that is created by this solar panels, the birds ignite midair and eventually crash

into the ground. This phenomenon is so serious that one bird species called the yellow-billed
cuckoo will be added to the list of threatened species by the federal government as result of the
lake effect created by the solar panels. An environmental group, called the Andersons group,
threatened to sue the U.S Department of the Interior, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S
Bureau of Land Management. (ScientificAmerican) However, this did not solve anything,
because all they did was put nets to keep birds at bay. Clearly, this is not a solution that would
completely stop of birds bursting into fire in midair.

Solar panels are made of very precious materials, however, most of them are not
recycled. The lifespan of a solar photovoltaic panel is 20-30 years. Meaning that after 20-30
years, a solar panel has to be discarded. Some solar farms have more than 120,000 solar panels.
These solar panels are made of silver, tellurium and indium, which are very rare and precious
metals. (GreenMatch) Most of these metals go to waste, because recycling solar panels isnt
economically attractive. Coal and other natural gases are still used because of their economic
advantages, and by using solar panels, we are trying to focus more on the environment than
money. However by not recycling solar panels, we are still affecting the environment and losing
money. Recycling solar panels is unheard of, and most of the used solar panels end up going to
waste. As stated before, solar panels have some toxins in them and by just throwing the panels
away, we are risking a leak of these toxins. The whole point of solar panels is to help create a
cleaner environment and by not recycling them, we are pursuing a counterproductive process.

Solar energy is energy emitted by the sun. In order to gather the solar energy, one must
build a system to store and then transfer the energy in order for it to be used. Once these systems
are created and implemented, solar energy becomes a rather infinite energy source, making it a
perfect renewable resources for the growing world population. It is also cheaper and does not
produce any pollutants while it is running. This may sound like the perfect solution to the global
warming problem. However, there are several complications that come with solar energy. Solar
panels have serious effects on land, wildlife and health. They require the use of toxins of
maintenance and also require a lot of energy to manufacture. Coal is used to supply Because of
the large amount of energy needed to manufacture the solar panels. By failing to recognize the
environmental impacts of solar panels, we will fall into the trap that we fell in 30 years ago. We
failed to recognize the environmental impacts of coal and natural gas. And this had led to drastic
change in our environment. We must recognize this problem to find better alternatives.

Bibliography:
Upton, John. Solar farms threaten birds. Scientific American. August 27, 2014. Web. 15
FEB2016
H. Gunerhan , A. Hepbasli & U. Giresunlu . Environmental Impacts from the Solar Energy
Systems, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects.
Taylor and Francis group, 2008. Web. 15 February 2016
Tsoutsos, Theocharis, Niki Frantzeskaki, Vassilis Gekas. Environmental impacts from the solar
Energy technologies. Science Direct, February 205. Web. 15 FEB 2016

"Impact of Solar Energy on The Environment | GreenMatch.co.uk." GreenMatch. 26 Jan. 2015.

Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

"Environmental Impacts of Solar Power." Union of Concerned Scientists. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.