Comments on: Cadmium: The Dark Side of Thin-Film?

By: z

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:39:23 +0000

While cadmium is toxic your efforts are futile and a waste of time. The truth is cadmium is used as a catlyist in the production of synthetic rubber. Infact if you live in the city you probably breath the shit in all day. If you have a garden with wood chips from trees growing alog the roadside or a garden along a road there a hell of alot of cadmium accumulation over the decades. When a flourescent light breaks do you call a hazmat team. The truth is the panels must be recycles like all hazardous materials. Think about this how many radios and computes have you thrown in the dump in your lifetime. If its more than six you contaminated your drinking water with enough cadmium to dope enough solar panels to heat your house, charge a solar car, and run you brun coffie maching Dude….

By: ablazev

ablazev — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:35:34 +0000

Cadmium is the 6th most dangerous toxic carcinogen heavy metal on Earth. No matter how you look at it, it is still a potential killer. And especially when spread over thousands of acres desert land, baking all day and freezing all night. The Cadmium thin films will go through the mechanical and chemical changes, as would any thin film combo. They will disintegrate and decompose and nobody knows what exactly will happen in these mega-fields after 10-20 years. The manufacturers don't have data to support their shallow claims of the environmental and health safety of Cadmium in the desert mega-fields, and yet they dare take a chance. A chance that these Cadmium mega-fields will convert the desert lands into hazmat dumps and our neighborhoods into guinea pigs test farms. And, of course, we'll let the next generation deal with it--just like we did with Lead, Asbestos, Nicotine and crude oil. And this time in the name of "green" energy!

By: Sick Chinese kids doing bit for our environment « Asian Correspondent

Sick Chinese kids doing bit for our environment « Asian Correspondent — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:04:34 +0000

[...] the green movement is such a large user of lead."Cadmium, a by-product of lead mining, is also a major component of solar panels.Earlier this year, Australia announced a major of investment of taxpayer funds in [...]

By: Blurt Daily » Bonehead Environmental Policies

Blurt Daily » Bonehead Environmental Policies — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:57:36 +0000

[...] but guess what… Cadmium is also bad for the environment. See an article about it here. I’m willing to wager that more people have died from cadmium exposure than exposure to [...]

By: Solar’s Dirty Side is Being Ignored, Report Says « Earth2Tech

Solar’s Dirty Side is Being Ignored, Report Says « Earth2Tech — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:08:12 +0000

[...] and environmental best practices now, while the solar industry is still in a nascent stage. As we’ve pointed out before, reclamation programs are a low priority for solar startups that are typically focused more on [...]

By: Are Dirty Solar Panels a Big Problem?

Are Dirty Solar Panels a Big Problem? — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:34:46 +0000

[...] Dirty Solar Panels a Big Problem? Solar’s got a few dark secrets: Sometimes toxic materials are used in panels and sometimes chemicals get dumped in the manufacturing process. But what’s the real dirty [...]

By: Are Dirty Solar Panels a Big Problem? « Earth2Tech

Are Dirty Solar Panels a Big Problem? « Earth2Tech — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:37:01 +0000

[...] Comments Posted November 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 am in Startups Solar’s got a few dark secrets: Sometimes toxic materials are used in panels, and sometimes chemicals get dumped in the manufacturing process. But what’s the real dirty [...]

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:00:52 +0000

Cadmium recycling can be a lucrative business. One of the only 2 cadmium "producers" in the United States does its entire business extracting cadmium from NiCd batteries. I suspect something similar will develop extracting Cd from dead panels.

Nathan

By: Rise & Shine: September 26, 2008

Rise & Shine: September 26, 2008 — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:41:44 +0000

[...] Cadmium: The Dark Side of Thin Film? The panels being built today have an estimated lifespan of 30 to 40 years and then are largely discarded. The problem is that some thin-film PV solar cells contain hazardous substances like cadmium that can pose a health risk if the solar panel is simply thrown out after its done soaking up the sun. Solmetric SunEye Adds New Languages, Viewing in Google Earth Solmetric Corporation announced new features available in its Solmetric SunEye shade analysis tool. [...]

By: David King

David King — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:32:46 +0000

Government will have a huge role in how fast solar grows and hence the rate of the resulting pollution problem.

The European Emission Trading Scheme allows companies to buy and sell pollution permits. Than there's the Kyoto agreement (for everyone BUT the US), emission taxes (UK is considering), tax credits (Bush in the US).

There's a lot of opportunity for corruption. Companies getting paid for being 'green' can easily skew the numbers and fake it.

But if solar is expected to be cheaper than other forms of electricity by say 2020, it may be sooner with government paying people for being green.