Posted on 09/01/2020 11:52:50 AM PDT by george76
Most people seem to believe that wind and solar panels produce no waste and have no negative environmental impacts. Unfortunately, these people are wrong.
In reality, everything that humans do has an environmental impact, whether it be mining, using a coal-fired power plant, or even tourism. When it comes to energy and environmental policy, the real question to ask is not “will there be an impact?” but rather, “can the impacts be minimized?” ...
Because everything has an effect on the environment, it is important that everyone understands the impacts of all energy sources so we can make the best possible energy decisions. We are constantly making trade-offs in our lives whether we recognize it or not.
...
Unlike other forms of electricity generation, like nuclear plants or coal plants, there doesn’t seem to be any foresight on how to deal with the waste that will be generated when solar panels and wind turbines reach the end of their short lifetimes. Remember, nuclear plants can run for 80 years, as can coal plants with proper maintenance and upkeep, but even the best wind turbines and solar panels will last for just 25 years, creating staggering amounts of waste products.
...
solar panels are expected to generate 866 times more waste in the next 30 years than nuclear power has generated in the last 50. And unlike nuclear waste, which is safely stored on site, nobody knows what will happen to these solar panels at the end of their useful lifetime because solar panels are not easily recycled.
...
Unfortunately, most people still don’t understand that wind and solar require enormous amounts of metal, and that much of this metal is mined in Third-World countries that have few protections for workers or the environment.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanexperiment.org ...
All of those “waste” materials are needed in othet mfg sectors as raw materials. Cadmium is used extensively in the military industry, for instance................
they should be burned to generate electricity
Solar panels also produce DC current which has to be converted to AC current to run modern devices. This is done with an inverter which produces 60 Hz. AC but it also produces higher frequencies or “Dirty electricity”. This produces electro magnet fields (EMFS) inside homes and buildings. The EMFS can cause cancer over time.
We have next-generation nuclear sources, safer with smaller toxic footprint. Sadly, they are stigmatized by a reputation.
My suggestion would be to store it all in Gropin Joe’s basement.
Natural gas power plants are efficient, reliable, have reduced emissions over other “fossil fuels”, and have plentiful fuel reserves here in the United States. But the zealots with their world-ending gambit want to push political change down our throats. A comfy, content, and prosperous electorate makes that harder to do.
***Remember, nuclear plants can run for 80 years, as can coal plants with proper maintenance and upkeep,***
The average life span of a coal fired power plant is twenty five years. Then it is rebuilt and will last another 25, and so on for another 25.
Obama caused lots of perfectly good coal fired power plants to be permanently shut down.
Our coal plant used low sulfur Wyoming coal. It had to be rebuilt with a “scrubber” unit to remove the last smidgen of sulfur, or be permanently shut down.
“The fact is, there is no perfect zero emission, zero environmental impact form of energy anywhere.”
What about Hydrothermal or Geothermal sourced electricity?
And solar panels are useless when they’re covered with snow.......
My son-in-law has had to deal with hail storms in Texas, and having smashed windshields and dented roofs on his vehicles. My daughter says when a hail storm is coming, everyone tries to park under an overpass or in a parking garage.
There's the answer, install the solar panels under freeway overpasses.
Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon will hold lots of landfill. As my dad said back in 1957, when he decided not to visit these areas..”It’s just a big hole in the ground!”
And I have a friend in central PA who got licensed to install them and put them on his own home AND he is no liberal. He put more on his home so he has no bill and gets paid for his excess. Don't like them, don't get them.
Manufacturing those batteries is extremely polluting, and there is not enough Lithium in the world.
Electric cars are dirty and unafforfable
Where does the energy it takes to extract those minerals come from?
“They can’t be recycled?..................”
No, not easily. They have high amounts of heavy metals.
Old solar panels are an environmental nightmare.
Incidentally, so are carbon fiber bicycles.
Ha ha I argue with an old solar panel con all the time. He guarantees solar has no waste. Nothing will change his mind. I’m sending him this
15 years ago Xcel said spending $190 million to upgrade existing Colorado power plants was in the ratepayers best interest to keep the units running through 2035. As a regulated monopoly, Xcel is guaranteed Huge profits... Xcel does not care about Colorado rate payers.
Xcel Energy is a Minneapolis- for-profit monopoly... hopes to increase the value of its shareholders’ wealth (thru a massive $2.5 billion fuel-switching scam that will hurt rate payers) by shutting down two reliable, cost efficient, paid for coal fired units and replace them with intermittent, not reliable (not paid for yet) energy sources.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3741678/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.