Solar Cells Linked to Greenhouse Gases

Think solar power is a clean source of energy? Not so fast says Dr. Ozzie Zehner. According to Zehner’s recent book, Green Illusions, solar cells do not offset greenhouse gases and do not curb the use of fossil fuels.

Zehner explains in Green Illusions that the solar power industry has grown to become one of the leading emitters of hexafluoroethane (C2F6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), all of which are potent greenhouse gases. C2F6, for example, is considered by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to have a global warming potential that is 12,000 higher than carbon dioxide. It survives 10,000 years once released into the atmosphere. NF3 and SF6 are even more powerful.

The fastest-growing emitters of these gases? That would be the solar photovoltaic industry. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now says these gases are accumulating within the earth’s atmosphere, with SF6 rising exponentially.

The greenhouse gases they emit are not the only drawback to solar power technologies says Zehner. He also believes that more abundant solar power sources could actually make the global energy picture worse. Zehner is also critical of wind power and believes that curbing energy consumption is the best answer to long-term sustainability.

“Solar cells seem a wasteful and pricey strategy,” explains Zehner. “It is hard to conceive of a justification for extracting taxes from the working class to fund installations of Stone Age photovoltaic technologies high in the gold-rimmed suburbs of Arizona and California.”