The sun is a resource that can generate a lot of sustainable and clean energy, and unlike fossil fuel, solar power isn’t toxic and doesn’t produce global warming emissions. Its potential impact on water use, use of hazardous materials, habitat loss, and land use can vary depending on the technology used. Solar energy technologies are categorized into concentrating solar thermal plants and photovoltaic solar cells. However, the scale of the solar power system, which can range from a large utility, distributed rooftop PV, and small PV rays can also impact the environment. Some of the questions that people have been asking themselves include how does solar energy work and how will it affect the ecosystem in the future? Below is how it works and some of its future effects on the environment.

Water Use

Solar panels never use water to generate energy, but as is with any manufacturing process, manufacturing of solar PV components require some water. Like any other thermal electric plant, some water will be used for cooling during the construction of solar thermal plants. Water use depends on the type of cooling system, plant location, and plant design. At least 600 to 650 gallons of water is used on a CPS plant that runs on a wet-recirculating technology. However, plants with cooling systems withdraw high levels of water but consume low levels of water. That means a dry-cooling system can help reduce water use at a solar energy plant by almost 90 per cent. However, lower efficiencies and higher costs might be tradeoffs to saving all that water.

Global Warming Emissions

Though generating solar energy isn’t associated with any global warming emissions, advanced stages of a solar life-cycle such as maintenance, manufacturing, dismantlement, materials transportation, decommissioning, and installation are related to global warming emissions. The life-cycle of most photovoltaic systems emits approximately 0.18 pounds of carbon dioxide every hour. Similarly, estimates for solar power concentration can range between 0.08 and 0.2 pounds of CO2 per hour, both of which are way far less than natural gas emission rates.

Land Use

Solar power plants can raise concerns about habitat loss and land degradation depending on their size and location. The land required for a solar facility depends on factors such as the intensity of solar resource, the topography of the site, and technology used. Estimates for a concentrating solar power facility range from 4 to 16 acres per megawatt while estimates for a PV solar plant can range between 3.5 to 10 acres per megawatt. However, solar power facilities allow fewer opportunities for sharing agricultural uses with solar projects. Solar power users can reduce the impact of their utility-scale solar systems on land by locating their plants at locations such as transmission corridors and abandoned mining land. Small-scale solar power plants, which anyone can install in their commercial building or home can also have minimal impact on land use.

Hazardous Materials

Manufacturing of PV cells includes some dangerous materials, which can be used for purifying and cleaning the surface of the semiconductor. Similar to chemicals used in the semiconductor industry, these hazardous materials can include hydrogen fluoride, acetone, sulfuric acid, hydraulic acid, and trichloroethane. The type and amount of chemicals used in a PV cell manufacturing process depend on the silicon wafer size, the cleaning procedure, and the nature of the cell. Workers of a solar power facility also face a risk of inhaling harmful substances such as silicon dust. Thus, the U.S. government requires all PV cell manufacturers to devise measures to prevent the exposure of their workers to these toxic chemicals. PV cell manufacturers must also follow U.S. laws regarding the disposal of any harmful product.

Thin-film photovoltaic cells contain more toxic substances than those used in conventional PV silicon cells. Failure to handle and get rid of these harmful products properly could pose severe public health and environmental threats. However, PV cells manufacturers have established a financial incentive for safe disposal and recycling of these often rare and highly valuable materials instead of throwing them away.