Eps. 22: Dr. Parikhit Sinha | Director of Sustainable Development

STEMoirs

Dr. Parikhit Sinha from First Solar—the only solar manufacturer to bring thin-film solar panels to the gigawatt scale (so far...looking at you, perovskite-enthusiasts)—joins STEMoirs to share about the winding path of his scientific career.
We hear about his start at Harvard University, his transition into a science degree, moving to Seattle and how he found himself flying over wildfires in Africa taking air samples, and ending up in Arizona. We also touch on life cycle assessments and discuss what ultra-low carbon photovoltaics are.
Check out First Solar's Youtube channel.
Though a bit dated in the rapidly changing world of solar energy, many of the comparisons of First Solar to other manufacturing methods hold true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HPFKcsgNrk
There's also a short look at First Solar's cadmium telluride manufacturing process here
This episode was not sponsored by First Solar. The opinions stated in the episode do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of First Solar or others mentioned.
Music credits:
RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/