Group 3
Solar Power Disadvantage
Prof. Anderson
Spring 2012
Solar Power Disadvantage
A) Uniqueness
US pollution is on the decline and air quality is improving now
UPI 2012
(United Press International, May 2, 2012, “EPA Sees Better US Air Quality,” http://www.upi.com/Business_News/EnergyResources/2012/05/02/EPA-sees-better-US-air-quality/UPI-14811335961759/)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that air quality in the United States was improving because of
limits placed on ground-level ozone. The EPA said it determined that 45 areas across the
United States didn't meet 2008 standards for smog. The EPA set its smog standard at 75 parts per
billion in 2008. "Almost all of these areas already have programs in place to improve air quality because they did not meet the 1997 smog standards," the EPA said
in a statement. Only three new areas were identified in its latest review. The EPA said smog can aggravate existing respiratory conditions and lead to premature death
for people with heart and lung disease. The
EPA in a ruling last year required states, mostly in the eastern United States, to
control air pollution that crosses their borders by wind and weather. The smog-cutting initiative would cost the
energy sector billions of dollars but EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had said it was worth the health benefits. Some U.S. lawmakers said the measure was an assault to
domestic energy production and would undermine economic growth. The
EPA said fewer areas in the United States weren't
meeting the air quality standards, which it said reflected a steady improvement in air quality.
B) Link
The process of making solar panels increases air pollution.
De Decker 08
(Kris, 3 March 2008, Low-tech Magazine Contributor, “The ugly side of solar panels,”
http://www.energybulletin.net/authors/Kris+De+Decker, d/a 8-2-12, ads)
Producing electricity from solar cells reduces air pollutants and greenhouse gases by about 90 percent in comparison to using conventional fossil fuel technologies,
claims a study called "Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles", to be published this month in “Environmental Science & Technology”. Good news, it seems, until one
reads the report itself. The
researchers come up with a solid set of figures. However, they interpret them in a rather optimistic
way. Some recalculations (skip this article if you get annoyed by numbers) produce striking conclusions.¶ Solar panels don’t come falling out of the sky –
they have to be manufactured. Similar to computer chips, this is a dirty and energy-intensive process. First, raw
materials have to be mined: quartz sand for silicon cells, metal ore for thin film cells. Next, these materials have to be
treated, following different steps (in the case of silicon cells these are purification, crystallization and wafering). Finally, these
upgraded materials have to be manufactured into solar cells, and assembled into modules. All
these processes produce air pollution and heavy metal emissions, and they consume energy which brings about more air pollution, heavy metal emissions and also greenhouse gases.
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Group 3
Solar Power Disadvantage
Prof. Anderson
Spring 2012
C) Internal Link
Air pollution will destroy the ecosystem
Driesen 2003
(David Driesen, Associate Professor at Syracuse University Law, 10 Buffalo Environmental Law Journal, Fall/Spring, Lexis)
Air pollution can make life unsustainable by harming the ecosystem upon which all life
depends and harming the health of both future and present generations. The Rio Declaration articulates six key
principles that are relevant to air pollution. These principles can also be understood as goals, because they describe a state of affairs that is worth achieving. Agenda 21,
in turn, states a program of action for realizing those goals. Between them, they aid understanding of sustainable development's meaning for air quality. The first
principle is that "human beings. . . are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature", because they are "at the center of concerns for sustainable
development." While
the Rio Declaration refers to human health, its reference to life "in harmony
with nature" also reflects a concern about the natural environment. 4 Since air pollution
damages both human health and the environment, air quality implicates both of these
concerns. 5
D) Terminal Impact
Destroying the ecosystem risks mass extinction
Gardner- Outlaw, 2000
(Tom Gardner- Outlaw, policy analyst for natural resources at Population Action Internationa l January 2, 2000 “Millenium 2000:
Environment” CNN.com Transcript http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0001/02/se.35.html )
Extinction is said to be necessary in the process of evolution, old species vanish, new ones take their place. During hundreds of millions of years, scientists say, mass
extinctions have periodically wiped out most forms of life. The causes are unknown, possibly huge volcanic eruptions, or climate change.
Sixty-five million
years ago, a collision with an asteroid is believed to have caused a global die-off that included all dinosaurs. Scientists
recognize five such mass extinctions in history, and they say we are now at the onset of the sixth. These are rates of
extinction that can only really be compared with these brief moments in the past when biological diversity has come
crashing down.
Biological diversity is the web of life on the planet. The total variety of plant and animal species, all living things. And
like the others, this sixth mass extinction is a biological diversity crash. Not just big animals, but little animals, down
to insects and plants too are disappearing. And we're in the middle of a species extinction crisis that is unique, for the
last few tens of millions of years. But there is a big difference between this mass extinction, and those in the past. In
the past, the causes of extinction were unavoidable, perhaps a collision with an asteroid, or a massive volcanic
eruption. This sixth extinction has only one cause, and it's us.
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