[Newsbot]

Title: Net-zero egg barn with solar energy opens in Alberta
Category: Business
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2016-07-27 07:01:21
Canadian

[uwish]

it really isn't net zero, in order to make the solar panels with current efficiency around 14%, it is no where near net zero!

Solar panal manufacturing is one of the dirtiest and energy intesive processes there is, right next to batteries!

[Thanos]

Yeah, but technically we remain "green" if the toxic waste produced by manufacturing solar panels is created and dumped in another country. Poisoning backwoods China and anyone living there is A-OK on the morality scale if it means another pipeline doesn't get built in Canada or another house doesn't get hooked up to dirty filthy skanky natural gas. This way we get to feel good about ourselves in the grand post-Trudeau Sr. manner we've all become accustomed to. And feeling good is what it's all about. Whee?

[DrCaleb]

uwish uwish:

Solar panal manufacturing is one of the dirtiest and energy intesive processes there is, right next to batteries!

In initial processing, yes. Afterward, they produce no emissions at all. In overall lifetime, coal is the dirtiest means of producing power, by far.

The slake lime and mercury in coal tailings are considered hazardous, not to mention the radioactivity.

[Thanos]

True, but using the word "green" really conned too many into believing it's all 100% clean and wonderful. It's easy to be on a high horse when the reality of green manufacturing of solar panels is that the toxic waste produced stays in someone else's country. Or that the reality of disposing of the gigantic batteries for electric cars means they'll simply be open-pit dumped somewhere else, with all the toxins leaking out and leaving ground water permanently contaminated.