Are we headed for a solar waste crisis? [Supporters of solar power have no idea what's coming]

environmentalprogress.org ^ | June 21, 2017 | Jemin Desai and Mark Nelson

[grundle]

Last November, Japan’s Environment Ministry issued a stark warning: the amount of solar panel waste Japan produces every year will rise from 10,000 to 800,000 tons by 2040, and the nation has no plan for safely disposing of it.

Neither does California, a world leader in deploying solar panels. Only Europe requires solar panel makers to collect and dispose of solar waste at the end of their lives.

All of which raises the question: just how big of a problem is solar waste?

Environmental Progress investigated the problem to see how the problem compared to the much more high-profile issue of nuclear waste. 

We found:

• Solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than do nuclear power plants.

• If solar and nuclear produce the same amount of electricity over the next 25 years that nuclear produced in 2016, and the wastes are stacked on football fields, the nuclear waste would reach the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (52 meters), while the solar waste would reach the height of two Mt. Everests (16 km). 

• In countries like China, India, and Ghana, communities living near e-waste dumps often burn the waste in order to salvage the valuable copper wires for resale. Since this process requires burning off the plastic, the resulting smoke contains toxic fumes that are carcinogenic and teratogenic (birth defect-causing) when inhaled.

  

  The study defines as toxic waste the spent fuel assemblies from nuclear plants and the solar panels themselves, which contain similar heavy metals and toxins as other electronics, such as computers and smartphones.

  To make these calculations, EP estimated the total number of operational solar panels in 2016 and assumed they would all be retired in 25 years — the average lifespan of a solar panel. EP then estimated the total amount of spent nuclear fuel assemblies that would be generated over a 25 year period. EP then divided both estimates by the quantity of electricity they produced to come up with the waste per unit of energy measure.

  While nuclear waste is contained in heavy drums and regularly monitored, solar waste outside of Europe today ends up in the larger global stream of electronic waste. 

  Solar panels contain toxic metals like lead, which can damage the nervous system, as well as cadmium, a known carcinogen. Both are known to leach out of existing e-waste dumps into drinking water supplies. 

  The deployment of solar has increased significantly in recent years in response to government subsidies and mandates. Global installed capacity more than doubled between 2012 and 2015. 

  In 2016, solar provided 1.3% of the world’s electricity, with 301 GW installed. Nuclear reactors provided 10% of the world’s electricity in the same year.

  A recent report found that it would take 19 years for Toshiba Environmental Solutions to finish recycling all of the solar waste Japan produced by 2020. By 2034, the annual waste production will be 70 - 80 times larger than that of 2020.

  

  Methodological notes:

  • “Solar” in this analysis exclusively refers to solar photovoltaic.

  • For the analysis, EP assumed that each solar panel would last 25 years

  • EP estimated that a typical 1 GW nuclear reactor produces 27 tonnes of waste annually.

  • EP assumed that, worldwide, each nuclear reactor has a similar burnup.

  • Capacity factors for solar PV and nuclear are derived from 2016 reports from BP Statistical Review of World Energy and IAEA PRIS and are assumed to remain constant over the 25 year period calculated.

  • Nuclear share of world electricity was calculated by dividing world nuclear electricity generation by total world electricity generation.

  • Solar panel specifications were standardized according to TrinaSolar’s Duomax Dual Glass 60-Cell Module.

   

  Jemin Desai is an EP Fellow and a student at UC Berkeley. Mark Nelson is EP Senior Researcher. 

[Kozak]

The Greens will ignore this, just like they ignore the fact that wind farms are bird cuisinarts. Nothing can interfere with the Pravda.

[Brian Griffin]

The toxic nature of solar cells is their biggest problem.

A hurricane in Florida or an earthquake in California in the future would create a massive toxic waste problem.

Trees know how to deal with CO2.

[Rebelbase]

“solar panel waste Japan produces every year will rise from 10,000 to 800,000 tons by 2040, and the nation has no plan for safely disposing of it.”

Fukashima. The ground is permanently poisoned already.

[ClearCase_guy]

The world will end in less than 12 years, so I don’t see the problem here.

[bigbob]

Solar panels are totally recyclable. It’s being done already by a number of companies such as:

werecyclesolar.com/recycle/

So the answer is no.

[rockinqsranch]

Good point. I’ll just mosey along.

[bk1000]

To liberals, nuclear and coal are evil dirty corporations run by greedy white men. Solar panels are just sunshine.

[Truthoverpower]

excuse me - this is complete idiocy

first of all me point out that I am highly degreed person chemical engineering Berkeley masters degree in mechanical engineering

Second been in the solar business since 1990

Facts - solar panels are made out of silicone yes silicon and glass yes glass and third aluminum yes aluminum

there are no hazardous waste components and then whatsoever this article is complete and utter

[IgnaciKat]

Check out their state-of-the-art recycling center at 4742 N 24th St, STE 300 Phoenix, AZ 85016. Only four blocks to Whole Foods and Trader Joes.

I smell another Solyndra in the making. Sorry bub, nice try!

[fella]

Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in Chins

Socialist nations know how to take care of toxic solar waste. It's OK if the toxic waste from your green energy is dumped over there and not over here.

[Sequoyah101]

They will deem it to be made up information. Simply not true. Nothing can be allowed to get in the way of their wild vision.

[Vince Ferrer]

Fukashima. The ground is permanently poisoned already.

Radiation is temporary, even if it is very long term. The waste from solar is really permanent.

[familyop]

It doesn’t matter. TEOTWAWKI is just around the corner, and hordes of downscale savages will overrun and occupy NIMBY neighborhoods anyway. Those areas are full of plastics and will cause more toxic pollution while burning than anything else.

[Starcitizen]

Since the Communist Chinese pretty much stole the industry from those developing it, I’m anti-solar power. Not giving that regime $0.01 of my hard-earned money.

[rktman]

Yeah, dirty little secret. Gonna be a mess. Solar panels, wind mills, batteries. Just toss em out.

[IndispensableDestiny]

Our nuclear plant waste isn’t really waste. We’ve just fooled ourselves into not reprocessing it.

[MAGAthon]

13 Sept: UK Telegraph: World’s most powerful greenhouse gas on the rise ‘due to green energy boom’
The most powerful known greenhouse gas has been leaking into the Earth’s atmosphere due to the green energy boom, it was reported on Friday night.
Sulphur hexafluoride, or SF6, is widely used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and accidents.
It is 23,500 times more warming than carbon dioxide (CO2), and just one kilogram warms the Earth as much as 24 people flying London to New York return...
The drive to use mixed sources of power, including wind, solar and gas, rather than coal as fuel has resulted in a rise in the number of electrical devices that use SF6, the BBC said.
A study from the University of Cardiff found that across all transmission and distribution networks, the amount used was increasing by 30-40 tonnes per year...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/13/worlds-powerful-greenhouse-gas-rise-due-green-energy-boom/

[Wonder Warthog]

Total bullshit. Solar panels are already high quality silicon and will be recycled pretty much in their entirety. That silicon is far more valuable per pound that lead (as in lead-based batteries) which is already successfully recycled, and has been for decades.

[elbook]

Has anyone talked about the poisonous waste from the production in the first place ???