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Behind the Rise of U.S. Solar Power, a Mountain of Chinese Coal

WSJ Original article ›
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To make a dent in carbon emissions governments in Europe and North America need to support the use of low carbon solar panels in solar facilities installed there. This would enhance solar energy panel production in the US and Europe, India, other countries. Experts say the use of solar panels made using electricity from coal use in China creates more emissions in China while reducing emissions in the West. The result is that global emissions remain the same as if no solar panels were installed. 

The global solar panel production is mostly concentrated in China because of the lower cost of electricity from coal used in production of panels- a critical factor in the lower prices of Chinese made solar panels. This allowed China to gain a monopoly in production of  world's polysilicon, an essential component in solar panel production, that consumes large amounts of electricity in the manufacturing process. 

This use of coal generates twice the amount of carbon emissions in China than the solar panels made in Europe, say experts.

As a result the governments and companies in Europe, US and India are shifting to local manufacturing of solar panels.



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