How green is solar energy really?

More and more solar panels are popping up all over the world – and it's easy to see why: They provide clean energy at falling prices. Awesome, right? Well actually, there are also some not-so-green sides to this technology. We'll take a closer look at three big criticisms solar energy faces and check out just how much of a problem they are.

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Read More (Links):

GHG emissions for different forms of electricity generation:

Solar waste and recycling:

Solar Scorecard:

Reporter: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Video editor: Eva Höppner, Nils Reinecke
Supervising editor: Joanna Gottschalk, Kiyo Dörrer

0:00 Intro
0:49 Emissions
3:06 Toxic Chemicals
5:31 Waste
8:26 Conclusion

[freddygold]

In 4:40 where you talk about hazardous elements in some modules (specifically Cadmium and Arsenic), i would like it if you made it clear, that these are only in certain types of solar panels - namely thin-layered PV - which are very very uncommon for multiple reasons.
No Silicon-PV-module has any of these materials in it and Silicon PV-Modules are all the ones where you see individual cells (so basically almost every panel ever used).
The only rare and expensive raw material inside a regular silicon module is silver for the electric contact on the front of the cell. Hazardous materials are not present in a finished module (so this is obviously not accounting for acids etc. in the construction process).
The way you present it in the video it sounds like if you buy a regular module with individual cells (which everyone does because they are cheaper and more efficient) you might end up having Cadmium or Arsenic in it without knowing. But that is not the case! It is only true if you buy an unconventional Solarpanel which is based on entirely different materials and technology - not silicon cells (e.g. CdTe and CIGS Modules).
Apart from this detail i really liked the video for a short overview of the topic though!

[folwr]

I think it would be helpful to compare solar cells with respect to conventional energy for other variables than CO2 emission. There are about 10 million death yearly from air pollution, mainly from burning coal. The amount of toxic waste that coal burning produces is staggering. Over 400 million tons of fly ash is produced yearly, of which only one third is reused. The rest is dumped in land fills or ash ponds. Fly ash contains a lot of toxic heavy metals. Fly ash can even contain as much nuclear waste per kWh produced as the nuclear waste produced by a nuclear power plant. The radioactive waste from coal is dumped, while that of nuclear power plants is contained and stored. Than we have the enormous amount of mining, the oil spills, the gas flaring en methane leakages, the water polution by fracking, the domestic polution of burning fossil fuel for cooking, etc... We have to consider all these things when comparing to renewables. Not only the CO2 emissions.

[just_in_key]

There’s always a yin in every yang and vice versa, solar panel is still a better choice for cheap and green energy. Hopefully we will get way more sustainable solar panel in the future

[gurupi]

It is relatively easy to calculate the carbon footprint of production and disposal costs. Yes, these are real, but generally a tiny amount compared to the amount offset over 25 years of production. I remember the same panic/misinformation about wind turbines, then scientists did the math and found out it takes less than a year for turbines to make up their production carbon footprints

[burropoco]

One solution could be a unified ISO recycling standard that all manufacturers of solar pv adhere to. Recycling considered in the panel design itself.

[mwmentor]

Full lifecycle of the product should always be taken into account from manufacture to disposal… this is not just a problem for green energy, it’s a problem for everything. And should always be considered carefully to determine the mitigations that will need to be employed in order to overcome the issues… and they should not include trading in any format.

[wreyesbayarea]

Recycling solar panels isn't profitable. Well, the US subsidizes fossil fuels. They should subsidize solar panel recycling.

[sarjulia]

Thank you for this succinct video on the topic. We're planning our new home and here in canton St. Gallen (Switzerland) solar panels are compulsory on new builds. I've been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm for solar panels amongst even those who must now sell them as part of the energy package for new builds. It's seen as an inconvenience more than anything. Because no one has been able to answer the questions you do in this video, I'm doubly grateful! This couldn't have come at a better time ☺️ thank you!
I'm looking forward to fully recyclable solar panels, even if they come at a higher cost to begin with!

[notlessgrossman]

The good news is that solar panels are recyclable.. but it's not perfect.. when was anything ever perfect?

[TealMjM]

Great video.
I think that as production processes improve and the market becomes more competitive, both solar panel's co2e ouput, and price should fall drastically. A lot of the recoverable materials will probably become more expensive to mine in their raw forms as time goes on, so that should help making recycling more economical. It is important to not create a whole new set of issues when trying to solve the climate crisis.

[Dread_]

2:16 and there you have nuclear power plants with 12 CO2e/kWh, even more green than wind turbines.

[soniashapiro]

Clear cutting forests to put in solar farms seems bad. This is happening on the road where I live.

[kridlob]

These types of videos are important but we also need to think in bigger scale like what to do with all type of waste not only solar panels but plastic, electronics, medicine, and a lot of other special things.

[harshitichigo]

To find a viable solution to this we need to make the complexity of manufacturing simpler . A lot of research is needed regarding this. I want plastics that are having lesser toxic chemicals. To solve the polution we need to solve the root cause that's plastic. Hope scientists soon come out with plastics that cause lesser harm to environment and marine life.

[Songer]

I know it's possible to design panels to be easier to recycle. Since it wasn't a necessity, not much thought was given to it. It may cost more on the front end but if it cuts the overall cost when the cost of recycling is added to it, is it not worth doing?

[notnow]

Great video. Could you make a video on new nuclear technologies liks molten salt reactors? A lot of people especially in Germany don't give nuclear a chance but I think some of these new technologies would compliment other renewables beautifully as they do not depend on outside conditions. They are also considered to be extremely safe.

[DWPlanetA]

How do you think we should deal with the not so green sides of solar energy?

[ChumX]

What about the batteries needed to store the produced energy? I think those should be considered in the calculations as panels by themselves would be too unreliable to replace current energy sources. Solar energy also requires costly specific upgrades to the grid system.

[apostolosvranas]

Wonderful video! Thanks, DW!
Obviously, since solar panels are not made out of thin air, there must be some energy consumed for their production (as is for any other energy source/fuel) and there must be waste at the end, part of which can be recycled.
A parameter that was not looked into in this video is how the productivity of solar panels factors in the equation. I'm sure that a solar panel in equatorial Brazil will seem much greener than in my native Greece and both these will supersede a solar panel on Greenland (the countries are selected on the basis of their geographical proximity to the equator and the pole(s). Within the same country, equally, the comparison would be tremendously different for Florida or Volgograd than Maine or Novaya Zemlya (for the same reasons).
It would make more sense if countries closer to the equator (enjoying much more and more effective sunshine) turned first to those and then, as the production increases, the countries further away should follow.

[mikenero]

I enjoyed the video, clearly in an application where there is no existing power the arguments for and against a solar implementation are simpler, however any large scale implementation in a developed (powered) local becomes incredibly complex. All green solutions need to be additive a phased in as part of a cohesive energy plan.