The overlooked environmental cost of renewables

The overlooked environmental cost of renewables

The overlooked environmental cost of renewables
Inside a solar photovoltaic panel factory in Huai'an, in eastern China's Jiangsu province. (AFP)
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Renewables are widely recognized as an essential, non-polluting alternative energy source. But are they really as clean as they seem? When we examine solar, wind and other renewables, we tend to focus on the last mile while neglecting the full supply chain.

This is a dangerous oversimplification that ignores the hidden environmental and ethical costs associated with their production, transportation and disposal. To truly assess their efficiency and impact, this scrutiny must also be applied when comparing them with other energy sources.

Suppose we take solar energy, which has the lion’s share of global renewable energy capacity. Indeed according to the latest data, solar photovoltaic systems alone contributed to nearly 75 percent of the renewable capacity additions worldwide in 2023. In terms of electricity generation, solar PV accounted for about 4.5 percent of the global total.

This is clean energy but what about its full supply chain? 

The production of solar panels involves the use of hazardous materials like sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid. Moreover, research indicates there is significant energy consumption leading to greenhouse gas emissions and potential water and land pollution from toxic waste such as cadmium and lead. 

The next step is transporting these panels. Most solar PV panels are produced in China, which dominates the global market. China and Taiwan together account for about 70 percent of the world’s solar cell and module production. Long distance freight adds to the carbon footprint. This adds approximately 0.02 to 0.05 pounds of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated over the panel’s lifetime.

When we examine solar, wind, and other renewables, we tend to focus on the last mile while neglecting the full supply chain. This is a dangerous oversimplification.

Khaled Abou Zahr

Then, once solar panels reach the end of their lifespan, they ought to be recycled. However, the recycling process is close to nonexistent due to high costs and technical challenges. As such, many panels end up in landfill, contributing to soil and water pollution. It is estimated that by 2050, there could be around 6.5 million tonnes of solar panel waste.

This is why, when analyzing the benefits of a renewable source of energy, the entire scope and supply chain needs to be evaluated. And yet, to this day, we only focus on the last mile.

The same concept applies to electric cars. The entire supply chain must be analyzed — starting with the mines that extract the lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite essential for making batteries, often under questionable ethical conditions.

I recently read the news of a fully electric building in the US, which was hailed as a great success. Yet its power sources were predominantly fossil fuels. And just how efficient are such structures, considering the loss of power in the grid and other factors such as the inherent inefficiency of electric heaters compared to gas-powered ones?

For all these reasons, it is important to pursue efforts to improve the sustainability of production, transportation, and recycling processes to mitigate these environmental impacts. It is even more important not to politicize the energy and environmental debate, as it will only lead to flawed decisions.

• Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

 

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

Respect for laws of war ‘urgently needed’: Red Cross chief

Respect for laws of war ‘urgently needed’: Red Cross chief
Updated 8 min 50 sec ago
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Respect for laws of war ‘urgently needed’: Red Cross chief

Respect for laws of war ‘urgently needed’: Red Cross chief
  • The number of civilian casualties that we see today and that high and fast-rising number of displaced people are unacceptable, Spoljaric says

GENEVA: Amid a proliferation of brutal armed conflicts, Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric decried the disregard shown for the internationally agreed laws of war, with disastrous consequences on the ground, in an interview.

“What we see are constant violations of international humanitarian law in a fast-rising number of compiling conflicts,” Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said this week.

“We need to come back to acknowledging that the key to bringing peace is respect for humanity.”

But that respect appears to be in short supply amid a record number of armed conflicts — more than 120 raging around the world, the ICRC chief said.

In numerous conflicts, including the crushing civil war in Sudan, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Israel’s escalating wars targeting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, there seems to be little effort to spare civilians.

“The numbers of civilian casualties that we see today (and) that high and fast-rising number of displaced people are unacceptable,” Spoljaric said.

“Better compliance with international humanitarian law ... is urgently needed.”

Known as the laws of war and enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, international humanitarian law consists of a set of rules that seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict, protect civilians and civilian objects and impose limits on the means and methods of warfare.

This is “a very practical set of norms,” Spoljaric said, including requiring “the respect for medical facilities” and proper treatment of prisoners of war.

“It also requires that when civilian populations are requested to evacuate, that they can do so in safety, (and are) provided with the possibility to go to places where they will find security (and) access to food and water, to shelter and medical assistance,” she said.

“There are a lot of measures enshrined in the humanitarian treaties that allow for the reduction of unnecessary and senseless suffering of the civilian population in times of armed conflict.”

The ICRC, the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions, will co-organize an international conference with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to focus heavily on boosting compliance with international law.

It should be “a no-brainer,” Spoljaric said, pointing out that “all states have ratified the Geneva Conventions and committed to preserving humanity when things become very complicated.”

“Unfortunately, that is not the reality on the ground.”

In line with the ICRC’s mandate to act as a neutral intermediary between belligerents in a conflict, Spoljaric did not point fingers.

But she voiced severe concern about a growing tendency in conflicts, including in the Middle East, Sudan, and Myanmar, where there has been a “collapse of entire health systems.”

“Why is this necessary in achieving military goals?” she asked, stressing that this raises serious questions about how parties interpret the “principles of distinction and proportionality in the conduct of military operations.”

She slammed the “undermining and hollowing out (of) international humanitarian law to the extent where it allows you anything in the conduct of hostilities to achieve your military goals.”

She said one of the biggest challenges was “the notion that the enemy has to be completely defeated and that the enemy can be completely defeated.”

“It’s against the spirit of international humanitarian law to assume that you are allowed to dehumanize the other in the interest of your safety and security and preserving the safety of your people,” she insisted.

She pointed out that the Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 to help avert a repeat of the brutality witnessed during the Second World War.

“We don’t want to go back there,” Spoljaric said.

“We don’t want to go back to a situation where you can destroy the other no matter how much it costs.”


The situation in northern Gaza ‘catastrophic’: WHO chief

The situation in northern Gaza ‘catastrophic’: WHO chief
Updated 21 min 12 sec ago
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The situation in northern Gaza ‘catastrophic’: WHO chief

The situation in northern Gaza ‘catastrophic’: WHO chief
  • WHO cannot stress loudly enough that hospitals must be shielded from conflict at all times

GENEVA: The World Health Organization chief has warned of a disastrous situation in the north of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, with “intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities.”

“The situation in northern Gaza is catastrophic,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, warning that “a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life-saving care.”

He pointed in particular to the situation at Kamal Adwan, northern Gaza’s last functioning hospital, which was stormed by Israeli forces on Friday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry charged that the raid on the facility in the Jabalia camp, where Israel launched a significant operation earlier this month, left two children dead.

It accused the Israeli forces of detaining hundreds of staff, patients, and displaced people during the raid.

Tedros said on Saturday that the Gaza Health Ministry had informed WHO, which had temporarily lost contact with its staff at the hospital amid the chaos, that the siege had ended.

“But it came at a heavy cost,” he said.

Late Friday, WHO said three health workers and another employee were injured in the assault and that dozens of health workers were detained at the hospital, where around 600 patients, health workers, and others were sheltering.

“Following the detention of 44 male staff members, only female staff, the hospital director, and one male doctor are left to care for nearly 200 patients in desperate need of medical attention,” Tedros said on Saturday.

“Reports of the hospital facilities and medical supplies being damaged or destroyed during the siege are deplorable,” he said.

Tedros lamented that “the whole health system in Gaza has been under attack for over a year” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks inside Israel last year sparked the war.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 42,924 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

“WHO cannot stress loudly enough that hospitals must be shielded from conflict at all times,” Tedros said, stressing that “any attack of healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law”.

“The only path to safeguarding what remains of Gaza’s collapsing health care system is an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”


Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region

Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region
Updated 26 min 36 sec ago
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Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region

Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region
  • Hezbollah drone strike targets Israeli airbase, rocket salvo hits intelligence base in Safed
  • UNIFIL confirms it will remain in all its locations, monitoring, submitting reports

BEIRUT: The Israeli army is continuing its aggressive operations, causing devastation in the Lebanese border region.

Israeli booby-traps were found on Saturday while explosions were heard in Odaisseh and Rab Al-Thalathine.

The attacks sent tremors through neighboring towns, causing residents to believe an earthquake had struck.

The sound of explosions could be heard in Marjayoun and Nabatieh.

Activists on social media shared images showing a great strip of explosions, fire, and smoke caused by explosions along the border in the eastern sector.

The extent of the destruction in the border region remains unclear as access to the affected area presents a challenge following Israel’s complete displacement of residents and the prohibition of entry due to military action.

The Israeli army said that “the explosions in the north are a result of our forces’ operations in southern Lebanon,” adding that “there is no fear of a security incident.”

Israeli sources added: “Authorities confirm that there was no earthquake in the Galilee, but rather explosions from the army in southern Lebanon activated the seismic monitoring devices.”

Clashes were continuing as the 13th relief plane operated by the Saudi aid agency KSrelief arrived at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Saturday, carrying essential humanitarian supplies including food and medical aid.

Officials said the initiative reflected “the humanitarian role of Saudi Arabia in supporting the Lebanese people during various crises and hardships.”

A month has passed since the expansion of Israel’s war against Lebanon under the pretext of pushing back the Iran-backed Hezbollah north of the Litani River and returning Israeli settlers to their homes.

The Israeli army claimed that it had “found a tunnel underground and raided houses used as Hezbollah weapon and ammunition depots.”

Political analyst Ali Al-Amin told Arab News: “The Israeli army’s land incursion focuses on Hezbollah’s tunnels, and the nature of the explosions proves so.

“The Israeli army had previously bombed buildings in Mhaibib, and we did not witness such tremors because the operations were above ground.”

He added: “The Israeli incursion depends on its costs. If the cost is high, it will stop. There’s also the time factor.

“It is obvious that the Israeli incursion went beyond Aita Al-Shaab, for instance, and reached other towns across from Aita Al-Shaab.

“It seems as if the Israeli army is imposing an implicit blockade on the towns where the incursion was difficult, so it can return later after it depletes Hezbollah’s power, especially since the militant group’s supplies had been cut off.”

Al-Amin pointed out that “the Israeli army had previously occupied southern Lebanon in the 1970s and 80s without destroying towns and displacing its residents in advance, which means that the Israeli army seeks a fully burned land and a burned border strip in which all of Hezbollah’s infrastructure is destroyed.”

He added: “So far there are no opportunities for an agreement, settlement, or de-escalation.

“I think that the decision-making in Lebanon is largely in the hands of Israel, with certain red lines established by the US, particularly concerning the airport and the capital Beirut.”

Israeli airstrikes in the southern region on Saturday resulted in the deaths of several civilians in the Sidon district.

Five members of the Abouria family, including women and children, were killed in an attack on the town of Tuffahata in the Sidon district.

A paramedic was killed and 12 others injured in an airstrike on a health center in Al-Bazourieh, while two brothers from the Hamada family were killed after their home in the town of Al-Duwair was targeted by an airstrike, and a raid on Al-Shaitiya resulted in the deaths of three people.

Raids also targeted residences in the towns of Kfar Remen, Mayfadoun, Burj Al-Shamali in the Tyre district, Tayr Debba, Ansar, Mount Al-Rayhan Heights, Bissariyeh, Ansar, Bedias, and the city of Nabatieh, where several targets were hit including the Nabatieh Vocational School building where displaced families were taking refuge.

Phosphorus artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Halta and Wadi Khansa, and ignited fires in the Majdal Zone and Chamaa, while Yahmar Al-Shaqif was targeted by internationally prohibited cluster bombs.

Up to Friday night in the Baalbek-Hermel region and central Bekaa, the total number of strikes had reached 961 and resulted in the deaths of 427 people and injuries to 988 others.

Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had launched a drone attack on Israel’s Tel Nof Airbase south of Tel Aviv and targeted an intelligence base in northern Safed with rockets.

Its statement said it had targeted “the Kiryat Shmona settlement and an Israeli military gathering in the vicinity of Aita Al-Shaab.”

The group also targeted a military assembly in the Masharifa area in Ras Al-Naqoura and a gathering of soldiers in Shlomi.

Explosions and airstrikes targeting residential areas in the populated towns of the southern region, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, were accompanied by the release of odors following each bombardment.

Warnings regarding these gasses have been disseminated through social media alerts by individuals who experienced the events.

Israeli airstrikes on Friday targeted Haret Hreik, Burj Al-Barajneh, and the vicinity of Al-Laylaki in the southern suburbs of Beirut and followed an Israeli warning to evacuate buildings.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that “sites (used) for the production of weaponry and the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut were targeted.”

Meanwhile, Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed on Saturday that units of the peacekeeping force were remaining in their positions south of the Litani River.

He said that peacekeeping soldiers were continuing their primary mission of monitoring the situation on the ground and reporting on developments, despite facing challenges.

He added: “When we say we are in our locations, we mean every one of these sites.”

UNIFIL on Friday announced that its soldiers had “withdrawn, two days ago, from an observation post in the border town of Dhahira in the western sector to avoid injury after the Israeli army deliberately fired upon it while peacekeeping soldiers were observing Israeli army soldiers carrying out clearing operations in nearby homes.”


Pakistan’s deputy PM calls for equitable global financial system at Commonwealth meeting

Pakistan’s deputy PM calls for equitable global financial system at Commonwealth meeting
Updated 26 October 2024
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Pakistan’s deputy PM calls for equitable global financial system at Commonwealth meeting

Pakistan’s deputy PM calls for equitable global financial system at Commonwealth meeting
  • Dar says Pakistan wants to spend on health, education but lacks access to global financial markets
  • He maintains the world should prioritize debt relief and restructuring along with climate financing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar called for an equitable global financial architecture during the Executive Session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, state-owned media reported on Saturday, stressing the need to support developing countries in meeting their economic needs.
Dar, who also holds the foreign ministry portfolio, is leading Pakistan’s delegation at the Commonwealth gathering, which began on Monday, to present Islamabad’s stance on key global issues.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent nations, with roots tracing back to the British Empire. Today, any country can be part of it, with Gabon and Togo being the most recent members, joining in 2022.
“Addressing the gathering, he said the global community should prioritize debt relief and restructuring, sustainable investments in resilient infrastructure, enhanced access to climate financing and digital and financial inclusion in addition to strengthening multilateral cooperation,” Radio Pakistan reported.
“Ishaq Dar said Pakistan recognizes the pressing need for investments in health, education and infrastructure, yet it faces significant challenges due to the limited access to international financial markets and impacts of climate change,” it added.
Dar also highlighted Pakistan’s active participation in Commonwealth working groups on the digital economy and sustainable finance, saying it reflecting the country’s commitment to integrating innovative solutions into its economic strategy.
He also engaged with the heads of delegations from other Commonwealth member states on the sidelines of the conference.


Guardiola vows to learn from rock-bottom Southampton after tight win

Guardiola vows to learn from rock-bottom Southampton after tight win
Updated 26 October 2024
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Guardiola vows to learn from rock-bottom Southampton after tight win

Guardiola vows to learn from rock-bottom Southampton after tight win
  • Despite failing to win a single league match this season, Southampton frustrated City for long spells at the Etihad Stadium

MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola claimed he can learn from Southampton manager Russell Martin after the Premier League’s bottom side made Manchester City sweat for their 1-0 win on Saturday.
Despite failing to win a single league match this season, Southampton frustrated City for long spells at the Etihad Stadium.
Erling Haaland’s fifth-minute opener could have been the signal for a City rout, but Southampton stuck to Martin’s principles and made life challenging for the champions.
Cameron Archer hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time and City missed several chances to deliver a knockout blow.
Impressed by Martin’s tactics, Guardiola said: “Today it was not how Southampton defend deep it was how good they play with the ball with the keeper and the movement.
“It’s a good game to learn as a manager. I am going to learn a lot with Russell because they did really well. We were humble and accepted that they did really well.”
Unbeaten City sit top of the table, but will surrender first place to Liverpool if Arne Slot’s team win at title rivals Arsenal on Sunday.
Guardiola will be keeping an eye on that result while he digests the lessons of a hard-fought clash with lowly Southampton.
“I’m a big believer for the process to the build-up. I prefer the players get the ball to the feet, not the teeth,” he said.
“When that happens it’s because it was an incredible process. We were not sloppy, we were not flat but we struggled to regain the ball because they are really good.
“I’m a spectator, when I see the opponent do the things I like to do with my team and they do it really well, I make a compliment. I’m sure I will learn. Some movements, the reasons why they do it.”
After narrow wins over Fulham, Wolves and Southampton in their last three league games, Guardiola made a point of praising the Premier League’s depth of talent.
“It’s not easy, but we created enough chances to win better. I like to win in that way, as it proved in the last two games against Wolves and Southampton, who right now are bottom of the league and look how difficult,” he said.
“I don’t have any complaints about my team because when the opponent is good you have to accept it. This is what happened.”