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Solar Energy in your community

Jobs
Intrusion
Pollution
Distribution
Materials

Jobs

The solar technology industry is growing. The number of accredited photovoltaic (PV) installation companieshas also risen from 7 in 2002 to 45 in 2004 (source: Renewable Power Association) and in 2004, Sharp, a new manufacturing facility, opened in Wrexham. As the technology improves, greater opportunities in R&D, construction and installation are expected.

Intrusion

Solar PV or active solar heating panels are typically placed on roofs, keeping visual intrusion to a minimum. New designs integrate solar panels into tiles and slates, effectively forming a direct part of a building’s roof.

Inaddition, solar systems do not have moving parts, making their operation virtually silent. This also means that they require little maintenance. They typically have lifetime performance of 20–25 years.

Pollution

Solar technologies produce no air pollution and emit little or no noise during operation.

Distribution

Because generation happens at the point of use, transmission and distribution costs, as well as negative environmental impacts, are avoided.

Materials

There is some environmental concern over the use of heavy metals such as cadmium and lead in batteries used in some systems for storage purposes. Work is ongoing to replace these with more environmentally friendly alternatives and to make sure that if these types of batteries are used, they are recycled properly and not sent to landfill.

While the majority of existing solar PV cells are based on silicon, some of the newer thin-film technologies contain heavy metals, such as cadmium in cadmium telluride cells (CdTe). However, these are generally in minute quantities, and in the form of more environmentally stable compounds. It should also be noted that small quantities of some heavy metals including cadmium are released during combustion of coal. The use of cadmium in solar panels provides a purpose for taking potentially damaging cadmium, which is produced as a by-product of activities such as zinc mining, and converting it into a more environmentally friendly form.