Solar power innovation sustainability and environmental justice

What does Dustin Mulvaney say about solar energy?

In this important new primer, Dustin Mulvaney makes a passionate case for the significance of solar power energy and offers a vision for a more sustainable and just solar industry for the future. The solar energy industry has grown immensely over the past several years and now provides up to a fifth of California’s power.

Is solar energy causing environmental problems in California?

The solar energy industry has grown immensely over the past several years and now provides up to a fifth of California’s power. But despite its deservedly green reputation, solar development and deploymentmay have social and environmental consequences, from poor factory labor standards to landscape impacts on wildlife.

Are solar panels destroying ecosystems?

In fact, even the production of photovoltaic cells for solar panels and arrayscan disturb ecosystems when not carefully handled (Mulvaney 2019) and, in places, entail the dispossession of farmers and the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Are solar & wind 'degrading' land & resource use?

In the energy sector, utility-scale solar and wind installations in peri-urban and rural regions -where land is seen as cheaper, andpotentially already "degraded" -are driving new struggles over land and resource use (Sellwood and Valdivia 2018; Mulvaney 2019).