Title :
Environmental issues related to commercialization of CuInSe2 -based photovoltaics
Author :
Eberspacher, Chris ; Fthenakis, Vasilis M. ; Moskowitz, Paul D.
Author_Institution :
UNISUN, Newbury Park, CA, USA
Abstract :
One of the most promising materials for low-cost thin film photovoltaic cells is copper indium selenide (CuInSe2 or CIS). As with any new material, successful commercialization of CIS photovoltaic (PV) technology will require attention to environmental issues related to the sources of raw materials, their usage, and the disposal and/or recycling of products at the end of their useful life. This paper focuses on three specific environmental issues related to CIS technology: (i) economics of the use and re-use of materials; (ii) regulations on environmental disposal and waste handling; and (iii) logistics and economics of recycling and disposal of products by industries faced with comparable environmental issues
Keywords :
copper compounds; economics; indium compounds; recycling; semiconductor device manufacture; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; ternary semiconductors; CuInSe2; CuInSe2 solar cells; commercialization; economics; environmental issues; logistics; thin-film semiconductors; waste handling; waste product disposal; waste recycling; Commercialization; Computational Intelligence Society; Copper; Environmental economics; Indium; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Raw materials; Recycling; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3166-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1996.564400
