Photovoltaic Environmental Research Assistance Center

at Brookhaven National Laboratory

This website provides information and guidance for the photovoltaic community and interested public based on work funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Solar Technologies Program.

This center has been established at Brookhaven National Laboratory to provide focused environmental health safety information to the photovoltaic community. The Principal Investigator at Brookhaven National Laboratory is Vasilis M. Fthenakis.

Online Presentations

• "Business Benefits of Green Manufacturing in the PV Industry" InterSolar North America, PV Production and Technology Stage, San Francisco, July 10, 2012 (Invited presentation)
• "Sustainability of Very Large Deployment of Photovoltaics: Environmental Research", 2011 ASM Annual Spring Symposium: Sustainability of Materials, General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY, May 18-19, 2011 (Invited presentation)
• "Sustainability of Very Large PV Deployment", Masdar Institute Forum on Solar-Electrical Energy Systems: Technologies for Benign and Perpetual Power”, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 27, 2011 (Invited presentation)
• "Solar Energy Impacts and Management Measures", Wildlife Society 17th Annual Conference, October 4, 1010, Snowbird, UT. (Keynote presentation)
• "Environmental Aspects of Thin-Film Module Production and Product Lifetime", Invited Plenary Presentation, 25th EUPV, Valencia, Sept. 2010 (pdf)
• "Mathematical Modeling for Cost Optimization of PV Recycling", Presentation, 25th EUPV, Valencia, Sept. 2010 (pdf)
• Invited Presentation "Supply and Economics in Thin-film PV Materials" (pdf)
  IEEE PVSC 35, Hawaii, June 23, 2010
• Photovoltaics Recycling Scoping Workshop, June 11, 2009, Philadelphia, 34th PV Specialists Conference
• Silane Safety/Lessons Learned and Accident Prevention (pdf)
  Special Session, 33rd IEEEPVSC, San Diego, May 2008
• Greener Green Energy: Today's Solar Cells Give More Than They Take
  By Patrick Barry, Science News
• Photovoltaic Cells Are Still Very Green, Comparative Test Shows
  By Henry Fountain, New York Times
• How Free is Solar Energy?
  By Sandra Upson, Current Energy Payback Times
• Overview of PV EHS Hazards (pdf)
• CdTe PV: Real and Perceived Risks (pdf)
• Pb-free Solder Technology Transfer -Vail Workshop Summary

Last Modified: December 17, 2012
Please forward all questions about this site to: Vasilis Fthenakis

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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