Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
flat roofs make them ideal for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, and their locations near major
population centers make good host sites from which to generate and sell energy back into the
electric grid. The main use for Prologis's industrial space is storage and distribution, so although
the buildings are large, their energy consumption is small, since the buildings typically contain
merchandise and are not air-conditioned. While it would be possible for Prologis's customers
in these distribution centers to use the energy produced, they would not come close to using
all of it (NREL 2009).
Prologis partnered with Portland General Electric to install 1.1 megawatts of thin film solar
panels on three warehouses in Portland, Oregon. Prologis also worked with Southern California
Edison to complete a 2.4-megawatt installation in California. In total, the company currently
has ten PV projects completed on three continents, resulting in just over six megawatts of solar
power. These ten Prologis PV projects occupy roughly 3 million square feet of roof space (NREL
2005).
Solar photovoltaic systems are increasingly available and are being installed at an increasing
rate in the commercial, industrial, and residential sectors today. Solar energy installations grew at
a compound annual growth rate in excess of 40 percent during the past decade (MEMC 2011), a
rate that is accelerating. This would not be happening if photovoltaics were not cost-competitive
with central-station generation of electricity. Previous projections of market penetration (Paidi-
pati et al. 2008) seem pessimistic in light of recent evidence of expanded market penetration and
moves by financial institutions to position themselves for market takeoff. The “silent revolution”
of rapid photovoltaic market expansion predicted by Paul Maycock and Edward Stirewalt twenty-
five years ago (Maycock and Stirewalt 1985) appears to be well under way, although it remains
seldom noticed.
National Security Costs of Utilizing Solar Power
Sunlight is ubiquitous in the world. Silicon is commonplace worldwide and can be acquired
without dependence on politically unstable areas such as the Middle East. No country or group
of countries holds a large enough share of the silicon resource to enable it to control supplies or
determine price. Solar energy produces almost no carbon emissions or greenhouse gases, and
what little it does produce is generated during the manufacture of solar equipment, not during
ongoing operations. Consequently, utilizing solar technologies will not produce climate change
or a rise in sea level. Solar technologies do not produce substantial amounts of toxic waste that
must be isolated from the human environment for millennia. Solar energy utilization does not
produce materials useful to terrorists. Consequently, the national security costs of utilizing solar
technologies are nil. As compared to other energy technologies, utilization of solar technologies
can be conceptualized as having net national security benefits.
SUMMARY OF COSTS
The costs of utilizing solar technologies are summarized in Figure 5.3. Overall, the environmental
costs of producing and using solar technologies are incurred mostly during production of equip-
ment and are “low” compared to the costs of most conventional fuel technologies in use today.
The environmental costs of producing electricity from solar thermal concentrating power systems
in power plants comprised of parabolic trough, solar dish, and power tower technology are mod-
erately competitive to most conventional fuels in use today, due to the high costs of disruption of
relatively large acreages of land that must be dedicated to such facilities.
 
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