[sci.environment] solar cells

phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (01/02/91)

In article <18584@teda.UUCP> dll@teda.UUCP (Dan Liddell) writes:
|>(1) SOLAR CELLS ARE EXPENSIVE TO MAKE AND DON'T LAST FOREVER.  (ALSO, THE
|>	PRODUCTION PROCESSES ARE NOT PARTICULARLY "CLEAN" AND THE MORE
|>	ADVANCED CELLS ARE OFTEN HAZARDOUS WASTES WHEN THEY ARE RETIRED.)
|
|OPINION:Silicon solar cells do not represent much of a disposal
|problem, at least not because of the silicon. They are probably good

Henry was probably thinking of Galium Arsenide. Arsenic is generally
considered a haz mat.

|>(4) LARGE-SCALE SOLAR POWER SERIOUSLY CHANGES THE HEAT BALANCE OF THE
|>	SURROUNDING AREA, SO IT IS NOT COMPLETELY CLEAN.  
|
|Life systems are open systems. Nothing is completely clean.

Spoken like a person who's scared of math, and doesn't accept that
often, a large enough quantitative change is a qualitative change.
Not the kind I want running national policy.

--
Whatever happened to Global Warming? Could we have some Local Warming?