While most green junkies loathe nuclear power, they tend to rave over things like wind and solar power despite their glaring problems. Wind, supposedly one of the most eco-friendly technologies, has issues with killing birds en masse, but this is nothing compared to the wonderful world of photovoltaic cells.

Charles Fritts built the first cell in 1883. It was a rather simple little thing made from gold-plated selenium and was less than one percent efficient. The modern silicon cell was created in 1954, when Bell Laboratories noticed that impure silicon was highly photosensitive.

This is where the problems begin. Sure, silicon’s fairly harmless – it’s in sand and whatnot. The impurities, however, are somewhat toxic. They come in a few fun varieties:

Cadmium/Telluride
Copper, Indium, Gallium and Selenide
Silicon Carbide
Lead Selenide

Now these are not equally harmful, but none of it’s really all that safe to ingest. Most people are familiar with lead poisoning and the accompanying issues. Let’s be honest, touching a panel is not going to get you sick – contamination is not something that happens frequently.

The real issue is extraction and waste disposal. The mining process, like most, can cause ecological devastation if not managed properly. You know – the strip mining, silt mountains and of course, heavy metals ending up in the water table. When mining for heavy metals, contamination is not unlikely.

Then there’s disposal. If the panels are recycled, like it is recommended, there’s not much of problem. With any luck, people will listen and not just toss them into the trash.

So there’s nothing wrong with photovoltaic cells, but many of their problems are overlooked. They are inefficient, unbelievably expensive, use extremely rare materials and cause environmental contamination.