Solar energy systems contribute significantly to the sustainable development of human activities, and they offer significant environmental benefits in comparison to conventional sources. However, at times these systems face potential negative implications that can greatly impact their widespread deployment for some consumers.
The environmental impacts that can be caused by using solar energy vary greatly depending on which technologies are being utilized during manufacturing or construction processes. The various types of negative effects include degradation in water quality, air damage from chemicals released during the production process as well as other pollutants such as soot created through processing silicon metal ores needed for producing photovoltaic panels (PVs) . Other ecological problems may arise because some PV materials contain heavy metals like lead, cadmium telluride.
Following are some of the environmental impacts of Solar Energy:
The Usage Of Land
Larger solar facilities are increasing in popularity due to the large amounts of land required for these projects. These larger utility-scale plants can affect local ecosystems by causing habitat loss and degradation, but estimates vary depending on many factors such as sun exposure and location.
The Water Consumption
Solar PV cells do not use water for generating electricity. However, as in all manufacturing processes, some water is used to manufacture solar components. Concentrating Solar Thermal Plants (CSP), like thermal electric plants, require cooling by using the plant design and type of heat source to provide different impacts on environment and resources.
Heavy Metal Involvement
This panel is dangerous because of the heavy metals used in its production, such as Cadmium Telluride. However, these materials are also found inside coal and oil – which we burn at a much higher rate than solar panels do!
Other Impacts
Utility-scale solar energy facilities produce direct and indirect economic impacts. Construction of these structures would influence the socioeconomic state in an area, which can be both positive or negative depending on what is being constructed.
Solar energy is a huge resource that generates clean and sustainable electricity. In recent years, it has been discovered that solar power can be collected to eventually replace conventional sources of energy on a global scale with no greenhouse effect emissions. As the world focuses its attention on green power, solar’s importance continues to rise in prominence.
