The role of solar panels
Xavier Wild
At any given time, about 400,000kWh of solar energy is arriving on the Earth’s surface for every person in the world. That quantity of energy would allow everyone on earth to bring an Olympic swimming pool to boil every day. Currently we use 60kWh per person per day, which is 1/6,621 of the available energy. Covering an area of about 0.15% of land in solar panels would equal the amount of energy used today. 1 In this essay I will argue that this transition can be made possible if we can collaborate, prioritize a greater future instead of increasing profit margins and change our practices to accommodate our increasingly fragile world. The transition will create new global challenges, and it will also scale up pre- existing issues. We are going to need alterations in our projected energy consumption paths or else the quality of life will plummet for many. Although the world could be powered by solar energy, a full transition to solar panels is unlikely because of the availability of other renewable sources, including wind, hydro and tidal. The first perceived challenge of solar energy is cost, but the transition to green energy is not a luxury but rather a necessity. So, no matter the cost, this transition needs to occur. A way to fund this transition is to tax carbon dioxide. This could be achieved by setting a price of £100 per tonne of CO 2 produced. This price tag may be too low to begin with and not a large enough incentive for the fossil fuels to stay in the ground. Time will tell us if the price needs to increase or not. Now onto the more difficult challenges, one of which is the materials that are needed to make it happen. Large solar panels are usually made up of around 60-72 photovoltaic cells. These cells are 95% made of silicon semiconductors. The other materials are aluminium for the busbar wiring and frame, glass, and plastic. 2 The benefits of the primary element in solar panels being silicon is that, behind oxygen, silicon is the second most abundant element in the lithosphere. That means costs can be kept down due to its availability. The main issue on the material front is that storing the energy produced by solar panels will require either lithium batteries or lead-acid batteries. Since lithium batteries are more efficient, I will focus on the issues created by their materials, as everything needs to be optimized. Upon research the problem with lithium-ion batteries is that they cannot be easily disposed of, creating major fire hazards. Furthermore, the toxic chemicals within them (Co and Ni) can leech out of the batteries into waterways and cause health threats to humans and other animals. 3 The extraction of lithium can be done via open-pit mining or brine extraction. These both have negative environmental impacts, as they cause scarring of the land and destruction of habitats. The combination of heavy metals and toxic chemicals involved in this extraction can lead to health issues for miners and locals. Keeping this in mind, today's levels of extraction pose minimal environmental damage, but a gargantuan amount of extraction would be needed to cover the 250 square miles of solar panels needed to power the world. There are social issues already occurring with the extraction of key materials such as child labour
1 Berners-Lee 2021: 74. 2 Hacker 2023. 3 Mrozik 2021.
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