On a personal note, the fact they require more 'dirty' energy to manufacture, than 'clean' energy that they will ever produce in their life, renders them kind of pointless to me.
Yes, I've heard that too.
Apparently the same argument exists against electric cars, given the battery packs must be replaced every five to seven years.
Solar cells, ditto, due to the very dirty industrial processes required for their manufacture.
"Clean" energy might or might not exist.
"Zero-emission" energy certainly does not.