Solar Panels Threat to Biodiversity

Solar panels use is increasing day by day as it is a key ingredient to produce eco-friendly and renewable source of energy. As the energy need will increase in future so far that a lot number of solar panels will be used all over the world. But researchers take it as an eco-conservative concern.

Danger to biodiversity

Mr. Bruce Robertson, Research Associate, from Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University says that it is a possible threat to biodiversity. He told that shining dark surface of the solar cells, which reflect the sunlight is same like water surfaces that result aquatic insects like mayflies depositing their eggs on the solar panels. The solar panels will be posing a false habitat hazard to more than 300 species of insect. It will lead to a reproductive failure that may have far-reaching cascading adverse effects to the food chain. These insects fall prey to predators. This data was given in the research which was held in Hungary.

False Surface

Mr. Robertson and his colleagues after the research in Hungary had told in their article that reflected sunlight from expanses of the dark surfaces which are shiny like glass-clad buildings, vehicles, solar panels of all sizes are causing worry for polarized light pollution. Because such dark shiny surfaces cause the caddis flies and other aquatic insects to mistake shining surface to be water surface to lay their eggs.

How to reduce that threat?

According to Mr. Robertson white marking the solar cells may reduce this threat to a great extent. The calculations made by him shows that white marking the solar panels will not affect the efficiency of the solar panels. The researchers had discovered that the aquatic insects can be warned off by fixing white-color grids and other methods to break up the polarized reflection.