Wasted time, lives and our future
When the Consumer Watchdog’s report “Golden Wasteland” came out, I felt vindicated. For years, I have been sitting in meetings with DTSC, attending their workshops, reading their emails and have always felt like something was missing: logic and purpose. DTSC’s purpose is to protect California’s people and environment from harmful effects of toxic substances, but …
Hazardous Waste from Solar Energy?
A recent Associated Press (AP) article on hazardous waste in the solar industry was widely circulated on the web and ran in most major media and TV networks. If you’ve been following SVTC’s work, you know that hazardous waste from solar is news, but discussions about the solar industry’s environmental impacts are not new. Since …
DTSC’s Proposed Solar Recycling Regulations will haunt California for Years to Come
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) proposed solar recycling regulations are so baffling they resemble San Jose’s haunted Winchester Mansion. The Winchester Mansion was built in 1884 by Sarah Winchester, the gun-manufacturer heiress. She believed she was being haunted by victims killed by Winchester rifles and she spent the latter part of her life building rooms …
Formal But Not Yet Safe
Apple products are poisoning workers who make them. This is well known, thanks to a long campaign by activists. Recently, Apple accepted this too and promised to remedy this….
SCORECARD FINDS SOLAR INDUSTRY LEADERS MAKING PROGRESS TOWARD SVTC’S ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE GOALS
Solar industry leaders are making slow but steady progress…
Why SVTC Created a Lifecycle Website
At SVTC, we’ve learned that just because we can’t always see pollution does not mean that it doesn’t exist. This is certainly the case for solar energy. Solar panels, after all, don’t belch smoke or emit horrible odors from dirty smoke stacks. So it’s difficult to imagine that the panels that sit passively on your …
Solar Manufacturing in the US is Taking a Beating
Several solar firms, calling themselves the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), have filed a suit with the International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Chinese solar panel makers are dumping cheap solar panels on the US market. The complaint filed by seven manufacturers has divided the US solar industry and resulted in another group, calling …
Cleantech’s “Double” Bottomline: Sustainability Still Treated Separate But Not Equal
I recently served as a judge for the 2011 Cleantech Open Business Competition’s National Sustainability Award at the CaliforniaCleantech Open (CTO). The competition provides training and mentoring to bring start- up cleantech companies to market. CTO, considered by some to be the Academy Awards of the cleantech industry, continues to help grow and define the cleantech sector. As …
Green Chemistry Regulations Made Simple
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) has been involved in a process in California called the Green Chemistry Initiative; we have been working on it with other NGOs in the CHANGE Coalition (Californians for A Healthy and Green Economy). For me, the process has been challenging. Why? Because it seems only logical that corporations should not put …
Sometimes It Isn’t Fun to be Right
Just as we feared, communities are being polluted due to toxic releases from irresponsible solar companies. This week international news headlines reported that 500 people protested at the Zhejiang Jinko Solar factory near Shanghai, China. The protesters complained that the factory spews dense smoke from a dozen chimneys and that fish are dying from Jinko …