via Rouge Pundit random nature posts:
Two articles on how wind and solar are produced in Pennsylvania and China, and the environmental issues involved. A solar manufacturer in China:
The first time Li Gengxuan saw the dump trucks from the nearby factory pull into his village, he couldn’t believe what happened. Stopping between the cornfields and the primary school playground, the workers dumped buckets of bubbling white liquid onto the ground. Then they turned around and drove right back through the gates of their compound without a word.
This ritual has been going on almost every day for nine months, Li and other villagers said.
In China, a country buckling with the breakneck pace of its industrial growth, such stories of environmental pollution are not uncommon. But the Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co., here in the central plains of Henan Province near the Yellow River, stands out for one reason: It’s a green energy company, producing polysilicon destined for solar energy panels sold around the world. But the byproduct of polysilicon production–silicon tetrachloride–is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.
Pennsylvania and wind:
Other than the record-keeping problems, one of the biggest issues was with emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the paints, solvents and adhesives used to make the giant blades and other components of the turbines.
[DEP spokeswoman] Rebarchak said the emissions did not “pose any health issue for employees, neighboring businesses or area residents.” The concern, she said, was that volatile organics contributed to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog, and Southeastern Pennsylvania does not meet national ozone standards.
Gamesa’s Peck said the new equipment included a “regenerative thermal oxidizer” that will burn up the volatile organic compounds before they are emitted.
Filed under: environment | Tagged: china, green, pennsylvania, pollution, solar, spain, wind
