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  Straits Times 21 May 07
Solar energy: Createing new opportunities for Singapore
Letter from Dr Kua Harn Wei

IT IS indeed encouraging to learn that Singapore is developing solar energy technology and know-how to strategically position itself in the global economy while mitigating global climate change.

However, utilising solar energy is, and should be, much more than just installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels or increasing the conversion efficiency of solar cells.

We need to fully understand the pros and cons of solar technology. For example, a wide range of potentially toxic and hazardous materials may be used in the PV industry. They may include trichorosilane, silane, cadmium and hydrogen selenide. Careless disposal and decommissioning are likely to cause environmental contamination and workers' health must be aptly protected during the manufacturing process.

PV cells are semiconductors. The manufacturing of semiconductor grade materials is notoriously resource-intensive. Studies in the US have shown that the total weight of secondary fossil fuel and chemical inputs to produce and use a 2g chip are estimated at 1.6kg and 72g respectively.

The use of water and elemental gases (mainly nitrogen) in the fabrication stage is an average of 32kg and 700g per chip respectively. If the energy sources of producing the required water and extracting the input gases originate from fossil fuels, boosting a solar economy may end up accelerating climate change.

The bottomline is not to avoid or downplay solar energy in the face of such a tradeoff.

Rather, the key to capitalise on Singapore's favourable geo-economic position as a future solar expertise centre is to adopt a 'lifecycle' attitude to innovating solar technology.

Specifically, we should explore ways to reduce the resource intensity of manufacturing solar cells while increasing the downstream performance of these gadgets.

Many countries are already ahead of us in solar technology research and commercialisation. Comparatively, not many are involved in such lifecycle research on solar technology. This may be a viable area for us to go into.

Finally, we should also explore as wide a range of solar technology as possible. This includes solar-thermal (for example, solar hot water panels) and innovative building facade materials to utilise natural lighting while rejecting heat inflow to reduce the load on air-conditioners.
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