Solar cells get clean bill of health
Solar cells generate electricity from sunlight without producing' pollution, but some environmentalists have been concerned about the potential negative impact of this photovoltaic technology. This is because the manufacture of solar cells involves toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium and produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. However, the first comprehensive study of the pollutants produced during the manufacture of solar cells gives them a reassuringly clean bill of health. Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York report that photovoltaic cells produce far fewer air pollutants than conventional fossil fuel technologies when manufacturing is fully accounted for. The study will appear next month in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, Vasilis Fthenakis and colleagues gathered data from 13 solar cell " manufacturers in Europe and the US over three years. The cells included four major commercial types: multicrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, ribbon silicon and thin-film cadmium telluride The study concluded that generating electricity from solar cells reduced air pollutants by about 90 per cent compared with using electricity generated in conventional power stations