SOLAR TODAY - March/April 2012

| clean air regulation advances
EPA Proposes Weaker Boiler Rules

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues its political pandering to polluters. On Dec. 2, EPA announced a proposed reconsidering
of its rule governing toxic air emissions from industrial,
commercial and institutional boilers and solid waste incin-
carbon monoxide limits, replace numeric emissions limits
with work practice standards for certain pollutants, allow
more flexibility for units burning clean gases to qualify
for work practice standards and reduce some monitoring
requirements.” “Flexible compliance options” is EPA jar-
gon for allowing more pollution. Replacing numeric emis-
sions limits with work practice standards simply tells indus-
tries to try not to pollute, rather than imposing objective
standards on how much they can emit. Reducing moni-
toring means EPA will simply trust polluters to meet the
emission standards.

by ROBERT UKEILEY

When a kid suffers a pollution-triggered asthma attack, she does not care if the filth came from boiler design X or boiler design Y. To its victims, pollution is pollution.

robert Ukeiley (rukeiley @ igc.org) is a lawyer who represents environmental nonprofits in clean Air Act litigation affecting energy issues.

erators. These boilers represent a huge potential market for solar, as there are millions of them in the United States.

For the 14,000 big boilers, mainly located at refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities, EPA proposes to create new subcategories. In effect, EPA says that some boiler designs are just inherently dirtier, and should not have to clean up to the new standard. Of course, when a kid suffers a pollution-triggered asthma attack, she does not care if the filth came from boiler design X or boiler design Y. To its victims, pollution is pollution. EPA states it is “also proposing to provide more flexible compliance options for meeting the particle pollution and

magnolia Solar in January announced completion of several milestones: success with an etched nonreflective glass surface
to capture more light; a waveguide system using nanorods of silicon
dioxide, indium tin oxide and titanium dioxide to
maximize photon capture and scatter across the
spectrum; a high-efficiency single-junction indi-
um-gallium-arsenide (InGaAs) quantum-dot cell
approaching the efficiency of triple-junction cells
at a much lower manufacturing cost; and a cIGS
(copper-indium-gallium-selenide) coating for flexi-
ble substrates, using the nanorod waveguide tech-
nique for improved efficiency, and designed to be
applied to the wing surfaces of military drones.
roger E. Weiser, Ph.d., chief technical officer,
noted that the company is making progress with
two separate materials. The InGaAs/quantum-
cell projects are aimed at NASA and Air Force space
applications, with a target efficiency near 40 percent. cIGS projects are
meant to be coated onto low-cost stainless steel and glass substrates,
with a target of 20 percent efficiency at a manufactured cost of 50 to
70 cents per watt.

Using funding from New york state and the U.S. department of Energy’s SunShot program, magnolia is developing a cIGS pilot production line in Albany, N.y. The intent is to license the high-efficiency thin-film technology to existing module manufacturers. The InGaAs program is supported by a series of grants from the Air Force. research partners include rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, kopin corp., the college of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the State University of New york at Albany and the New york State Energy research and development Authority. — Seth MaSia