Is PV Hazardous Waste? [RE-wrenches]

Joel Davidson joeldavidson at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 29 17:51:14 PST 2002


Dear Graham,

The issue of PV and hazardous waste pops up every once in a while
because of the paper "Health, Safety and Environmental Issues in Thin
Film Manufacturing" by Alsema, Baumann, Hill and Patterson. I have a
hard copy but can't find the electronic copy.

Here's a link.
http://www.chem.uu.nl/nws/www/research/e&e/e&e_rena.htm

Editorial - Environmentalists who bash PV are either Luddites, wackos,
well-meaning people with unclear priorities, proof that a little
second-hand knowledge is dangerous, but they are not customers. There
are valid reasons for not buying PV (bad site, power power match, no
money, etc.), but PV as an environmental hazard is not one of them. I
think your "potential customer" is wasting your time.

Best regards,
Joel Davidson

graham at solarexpert.com wrote:
> 
> Dear Wrenches,
> 
> Today I was informed that PV modules are classified as “hazardous
> waste”.  This statement kind of stunned me and was unsure as to the best
> response except to inform the potential customer that I am perplexed
> will look into it.
> 
> The potential customer is a non-profit environmental organization based
> in Los Angeles.  They re-roofed a couple of months ago and we installed
> the solar mounts during the roofing process.  Below is a copy of an
> e-mail that was forwarded to me:
> 
> > Gang,
> >
> > As you know, I have a lot of reservations about PV units.  While they
> > do harness electrical power from the sun without producing additional
> > pollution, they are energy intensive to produce and are listed as
> > hazardous waste to remove and dispose when their service life is
> > over.
> 
> > However, I have followed the development of several innovations in > PV
> > production.  The web site below describes the efforts of a company
> > that produces a roof tile PV that produces more electricity than
> > stiff, box PV units.  The silicone is sprayed on aluminum sheets; the
> > connections are all snap together.  This product can be installed
> > either on top of existing roofing or instead of roofing tile
> > materials.  Each section is an 8-foot long "shingle" that does not
> > require a special rack or moorings.  The system is relatively
> > lightweight compared to a box system.  A system can be assembled at
> > the size required to fill the needs of the particular building.
> >
> > Take a look at this site.  Let me know what you think.
> 
> I did not include the link but any advice as to how to respond will
> certainly be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Graham Owen
> 
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