08-27-2018, 04:28 PM
"cadmium telluride, copper indium selenide, cadmium gallium (di)selenide, copper indium gallium (di)selenide"
All of which are only used in the manufacture of thin-film cells (<10% of all cells made), not polysilicon cells.
Note that I'm not saying that PV is perfect. I'm saying that geothermal is not the silver bullet so many seem to be in love with.
And, it's just a tad disingenuous to bring up the environmental impacts of mining for materials to make batteries and then wave away the impact of all the steel used in fabricating a geothermal plant.
Finally, we do have battery technologies that use fairly benign materials. Unfortunately this becomes of battle of economics vs. the environment, as such batteries are not cheaper than the current media darlings of the lithium variety.
All of which are only used in the manufacture of thin-film cells (<10% of all cells made), not polysilicon cells.
Note that I'm not saying that PV is perfect. I'm saying that geothermal is not the silver bullet so many seem to be in love with.
And, it's just a tad disingenuous to bring up the environmental impacts of mining for materials to make batteries and then wave away the impact of all the steel used in fabricating a geothermal plant.
Finally, we do have battery technologies that use fairly benign materials. Unfortunately this becomes of battle of economics vs. the environment, as such batteries are not cheaper than the current media darlings of the lithium variety.