Spot.us - Pitch: Solar Waste Recycling: Can the industry stay green?

Story Updates

7/13/10

Big Solar Conference Rolls Out Intriguing New Solar Advocate

At the Intersolar North American solar trade conference this week, organizers rolled out J.R. Ewing, infamous TV oilman, to tout solar.

Sure, it’s not too surprising that an actor might have alternative energy leanings. Still, it’s a fun juxtaposition and clever marketing.

Thanks to various policy changes, incentives, and cost reductions, solar is finally beginning to ramp up in the United States, and J.R.’s endorsement is a sign of the times.

Former Dallas oilman J.R. Ewing: ‘[Bleep] big oil, I ♥ solar’

Tip from Osha Gray Davidson at True Slant.

Posted by Erica Gies on 07/13/10

6/29/10

Cost of Solar Coming Down

For years, the solar industry has been striving for cost parity with fossil fuels. Because fossil fuels enjoy a lot of subsidies and solar enjoys fewer, and because solar is still an emerging technology, this goal has eluded solar. Cost parity, of course, varies according to the price of power in various regions. Places like Hawaii and Boston that have high prices have already reached parity, whereas places like Colorado that rely on coal have very, very inexpensive power.

But there's good news today about solar's goal to be cost competitive. It is on track to reach parity by 2013. Interestingly, this is the target date many industry insiders told me several years ago. Obviously, cost parity is critical to wide-spread adoption.

Solar Energy Costs to Achieve Grid Parity by 2013, According to Pike Research

Posted by Erica Gies on 06/29/10

6/14/10

Europe begins industry-wide solar recycling

Sort of. Its program is voluntary, so critics argue how effective it will actually be. Called PV Recycle, it has been collecting members and plans to begin recycling this year.

Whether or not its goals are achievable through voluntary partcipation, having goals and communicating them are good steps.
If nothing else, articulated goals can serve as a discussion springboard for others, helping them to zero in on critical issues. Among PV Cycle's goals:

* End users will not pay for recycling

* PV Cycle members will pay. That fee will cover module transport, recycling, and a reserve fund for companies that go out of business.

* Collection points will be scattered across the EU.

* Recyclers will strive to recycle 85 percent of a module's mass.

* The program will be audited annually and will accept audits by European government institutions.
Posted by Erica Gies on 06/14/10

5/28/10

Highlights from Solar Recycling Workshop

  

Last week I attended the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s Solar Panel Recycling Workshop in San Jose. Speakers included Sheila Davis, executive director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition; Dustin Mulvaney, a scientist who works on solar issues at U.C. Berkeley; Debbie Basher, board member of the California Product Stewardship Council; and two industry people, Ben Santarris with Solar World Industries and Lisa Krueger with First Solar.

All of these folks would make excellent sources for my story, and I’m hoping to track them down next week. I was also interested to hear that there are currently no solar recycling plants currently in operation in California.

Not so surprising but still interesting was Mulvaney’s breakdown of the various solar products currently on the market. He outlined for each their key ingredients, valuable materials to recover in recycling, and toxic elements. Different products will require different recycling facilities.

Also not surprising were fervent reminders from the industry folks that, while no energy producing technology can ever have zero impact on the environment, solar’s toxic footprint is very, very small when compared to, say, the BP oil spill or the various foibles of the coal industry, from mountaintop removal mining to the 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee to fouling local groundwater by injecting slurry underground.

Of course, its negative impact is also small because it’s such a small part of the market right now. Which makes this the perfect time for the industry to get its ducks in a row to set responsible standards. I’ll find out how its doing.
 Posted by Erica Gies on 05/28/10

5/19/10

The water-energy nexus

It takes a lot of water -- 41 percent of U.S. withdrawals -- to generate energy, and a lot of energy -- about 13 percent of U.S. consumption -- to move and treat water. At least 36 states expect water shortages by 2013, so water availability is becoming a key factor in decisions about what types of energy to build. Unlike thermoelectric energy -- coal, nuclear, gas -- solar photovoltaics and wind turbines use almost no water, so they hold a distinct advantage in a water-constrained future. I wrote about the water consumption of energy in the New York Times today. You can read it here:

Water Adds New Constraints to Power

On the other side of the equation, water managers spend a good deal of their operating budgets on energy to move and treat their product. By promoting water conservation strategies, they can trim budgets and postpone they day when they need to develop new sources of water. That creates potential future energy savings because municipalities typically go after the easy water first. Later development might require bringing it in from a distance, or desalination, which is very energy intensive.Conserving water and thus reducing energy demand can also reduce the need for new energy plants. Read about that here:

Turning to Water Conservation to Save Energy
Posted by Erica Gies on 05/19/10

4/15/10

Price of solar plummets; CA considers wider deployment

I recently interviewed Ric O'Connell, solar energy project manager at Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company with a sustainable vision.

The solar industry has been working for decades to bring costs in line with conventional power, to level the playing field economically, something it calls "cost parity." Of course, this is a complex notion because the price of conventional power is different in different places.

But in the last couple of years, prices for solar have dropped by 50 percent, estimated O'Connell. That's primarily for two reasons. First, Spain had been offering a feed-in tariff, an incentive by which solar owners can earn money from energy generated by the panels they install. "Spain set the price too high," said O'Connell. "Prices were well above cost; people were making lots of money." When Spain turned off the spigot of the feed-in tariff incentive, demand plummeted.

Also, about four years ago, there was a worldwide shortage of silicon because the industry did not anticipate how fast it was going to grow. Developers experimented more heavily with alternative technologies, such as thin film varieties that don't require silicon, while producers scrambled to make more silicon available to the PV market. That silicon surplus is now available, but demand has decreased due to Spain's adjustment.

The lower prices for PV are pushing California to reconsider its widespread deployment of the technology to meet its target of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. Before the solar price decrease, wind and geothermal were more affordable. A sizeable commitment from the state could amplify end-of-life disposal problems if that eventuality is not planned for soon.

Posted by Erica Gies on 04/15/10

4/14/10

Another Spot.us story by Erica Gies

The solar/e-waste story is still in progress, but I thought Spotters might like to see another story I did for Spot.us:

Most Americans don't worry about their drinking water making them sick. But many rural Americans still get their water from wells, and irrigated agriculture is leaving a toxic legacy in California's Central Valley. Much of the produce enjoyed by residents of California's cities comes from the Central Valley, but the poor farm workers who live there -- and provide us with that good food -- pay a heavy price. I worked on a radio piece about this issue for KALW, which was republished on Spot.us and SF Public Press.

Agriculture poisons water for 1.3 million San Joaquin Valley residents

Posted by Erica Gies on 04/14/10

3/10/10

Wild West in solar development: Water consumption, distributed generation, and other musings

The last couple of weeks I've been working on two stories for International Herald Tribune/New York Times about the water consumed in energy generation and the energy consumed in providing water. I interviewed folks at the California Energy Commission who are responsible for approving new power plants in California. They have been considering proposals from developers to build out huge solar farms in the Mohave Desert.

These projects use "solar thermal" technology, which means that they use reflectors to concentrate solar power and heat a fluid to drive a heat engine. Solar thermal has similarities with other "thermoelectric" power plants -- such as coal, gas, and nuclear -- in that cooling must be part of the process. Historically, power plants have used water for cooling. But, as you might guess, water is in short supply in the Mohave, so developers are looking at using waste water (from sewage plants) or a newer process called dry cooling, which releases the heat into the atmosphere, rather than into water.

There are a variety of solar technologies: solar thermal, PV, amorphous silicon, thin film, dye-sensitized technology. The industry is young, entreprenurial, and experimental. It remains to be seen which will dominate, although many experts think different technologies will be used for different applications.

When reporting this story, I will need to look at the various technologies manufacturing, operation, and disposal processes and also consider their impact on water resources.

I have also been thinking a lot about distributed generation recently. This means that, rather than having big power plants out in the wilderness, away from our cities, we would put solar panels and low-profile (horizontal) wind turbines on the roofs of our houses and buildings. Such a model would give us greater energy security; dramatic events like the big Northeast blackout of a few years ago would be less likely to happen. While they might be expensive now, we would likely have greater cost stability over the lifecycle of the generators. A lot of energy is lost in transmitting it from power plants long distances to cities. Plus building such lines is expensive. However, power plant developers haven't yet figured out a way to profit from distributed generation, so there are various regulatory, economic, and political hurdles to that happening.

Distributed generation could be more environmentally friendly, in part because of the reduced need for transmission lines. However, if we all owned solar panels, how would we dispose of them at the end of their useful lives? We would need to have the kinds of takeback programs that electronics manufacturers are beginning to have, I would think, or else it could become a serious dumping hazard.

With the industry in such an early, experimental stage and with state, local, and federal governments regularly changing policies to acknowledge solar, it will be difficult to predict where the industry might be in 10 or 15 years. Any industry or government regulations would need to be flexible to keep up and remain relevant.

Posted by Erica Gies on 03/10/10

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Solar Waste Recycling: Can the industry stay green?

Published

Story Updates

Big Solar Conference Rolls Out Intriguing New Solar Advocate

Cost of Solar Coming Down

Europe begins industry-wide solar recycling

Highlights from Solar Recycling Workshop

The water-energy nexus

Price of solar plummets; CA considers wider deployment

Another Spot.us story by Erica Gies

Wild West in solar development: Water consumption, distributed generation, and other musings

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