Thanks for the blog, but I was wondering if you know if there is any health issues with having all those solar panels on your roof, is it like living under a power generator? Thank you in advance.

And everyone buying or selling solar panels, please check where and how they are made and if they can be recycled!

There are several ways how to make solar panels and the ingredients and it seems some technologies are more toxic..

Have you managed to find something and take action yet?
There has been problematic solar panel production in China too - at least they talked to Western media, not sure what else they did?

Have you tried contacting Greenpeace or chej http://www.chej.org/ or maybe this organisation could help? http://www.ban.org/
Do you have any environmental organisations in Malaysia or some near country? What about any health safety for workers inspectors or office?

Please tell what the situation is.. Maybe we can find something more to help..

Thanks for your comments. It’s a pleasure to have an expert and solar power author’s opinion on the Renewable Energy Geek Blog!

My only concern is countries like China that have poor manufacturing regulations. But yes solar is not something people should be scared of. I feel it should be embraced.

The point of this post was to raise awareness and help encourage manufactures to change / improve their practices. Its excellent to know they are trying.

Once again thanks for the excellent information you provided. I hope you’ll come back soon.

Sincerely,
Eric Bonnici

But that doesn’t mean that we should ignore the toxin problems with the manufacture of solar panels.

The good news is that the majority of the solar industry is not only aware of the issues, they’re doing something about it: the industry is vastly cleaner than it was even five years ago.

Most of the claims against solar is against the crystaline cells. There are some real horror stories about the manufacture of some of these cells - especially in China and with some of the older production techniques - but there are also some very concientious companies who are doing their utmost to keep the technology as clean as possible.

And the good news is that everyone is moving towards these cleaner techniques. Why? Because that is how higher efficiencies are being perfected with solar generation. If you aren’t using the latest manufacturing techniques, quite simply you cannot be cost effective with producing solar cells. This means that the environmental impacts of solar cells are being driven down year on year.

Amorphous panels have a much lower impact on the environment than crystaline panels, both during manufacture and with end of life handling. They’re much simpler to manufacture (although the spraying techniques used by some factories have raised concerns). Again, the industry is cleaning up its act.

Well done on writing this article. What you’ve written had to be said, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to put people off installing their own solar systems - just be aware of where they are buying them from and ensuring they ask the right questions.