Posted on 02/18/2024 6:49:49 AM PST by AT7Saluki
“While in use, solar panels safely generate electricity without creating any air emissions. However, like any source of energy, there are associated wastes that need to be properly recycled or disposed of when solar panels reach their end of life,” said the EPA. “As the solar photovoltaic (PV) market grows, so will the volume of end-of-life panels.”
By 2030, the United States is expected to have as much as one million total tons of solar panel waste. For comparison, the EPA says the U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons. By 2050, the United States is expected to have the second largest number of end-of-life panels in the world, with as many as an estimated 10 million total tons of panels.
The article writers went on to argue that, based upon their calculations of projected solar panel installation growth and replacement, solar panel waste will exceed new installations by 2031 and more than double by 2035. The result would be that solar energy costs are expected to increase four-fold more than what they are currently. ... The economic incentive to dump solar panels in a landfill is greater than to recycle them. The cost to recycle a single solar panel can range from $15 to $45 compared with only $1 to $5 to dispose of it in a landfill.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesouthern.com ...
Put an Apple tag on a piece of cardboard or a glass or plastic bottle and toss it in your “recycling bin”.
Then watch it turn up in the local landfill.
There’s no money in recycling.
Maybe they can wash them like they make us wash Garbage so they can call it recycling ,LOL
Actually, the consequences are already coming around. The blackouts in recent years in California and Texas are arguably at least in part, if not largely, because of the rush to so-called “renewable energy” and a lack of attention/money paid to dispatchable generation capacity and grid reliability.
Interesting point. Increasing use of non-grid solar may take the power grid in the same direction land phone lines have taken. An underused system results in neglect.
the best way to solve the problem of massive amounts of toxic waste on planet earth is to use the same method of disposal used in the movie “soldier”...ship it all off to another planet and drop it off. the moon would be a perfect place to dump our garbage. it’s close, no one lives there, no atmosphere and elon musk and his spacex could build a fleet of garbage transports in a few short years with international help and support. we could clean up the entire planet in 20 years and may be even get the wef to move their headquarters to the moon. it could be called “the moondump project” with a catchy jingle or maybe a catch phrase like “TO THE MOONDUMP ALICE!”. what’s not to like?
Death by pollution instead of imagined Globull Warning..
In Michigan Republic Services will send recycled loads to the regular dump if 3 percent of the items are not recyclables. I would wager everything picked up on recycle days goes to the landfill.
At the massive cost of a 2nd set of truck runs, additional pollution, road wear and tear, etc.
Just so people can feel good about themselves because “We recycle!”
It’s mostly a complete joke.
What is the useful lifespan of a solar panel? Presuming no physical damage if you are so lucky.
apparently the only thing these people think about recycling is votes, they print them by the thousands and just keep running them through the machines…….
If folks thinks this is bad, they should check out what happens to all the land under those solar farms...
The panels are just a preview of coming attractions.
Probably less than the stationary wind turbine blades.
Upwards of 20 years for well made ones but now most are made in China so ymmv.
Solar panels are worth it in places where it’s impossible or cost prohibitive to bring electricity.
Wind turbines are only cost effective on the about 8% of locations on the planet that get a good steady wind most of the time.
Coal is kinda nasty.
NatGas is good clean fuel and nuclear is da bomb, figuratively speaking of course.
Throw them in with the piles of worn-out windmills. Those junkyards do a lot for the local scenery.
Okay I’ll bite. What happens to the ground???
The fact that you don’t hear anything about it would be a clue it isn’t good.
Without looking, it’s pretty obvious the surface doesn’t get much sun. So you do not develop good groudcover - grasses, shrubs, etc. This leads to erosion, since the rain doesn’t stop. This isn’t good for the local streams and rivers, they’re going to fill in.
That’s just off the top of my head, and I’m just a dumb old engineer, not a farmer or biologist or horticulturalist or forester.
“While in use, solar panels safely generate electricity without creating any air emissions. ...”
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That very first sentence begs to be challenged and for one thing, it ignores the environmental impact related to the manufacturing of the panels... particularly the second stage of refining the silicon i.e. trichlorosilane gas, silicon dust, cadmium, nitrogen trifluoride, sulfur hexafluoride, copper indium selenide.... and that’s just a start.
https://www.americanexperiment.org/solar-panels-produce-tons-of-toxic-waste-literally/
You cannot open a coal strip (surface) mine without posting huge bonds to reclaim the land after mining operations are completed.
Wind and solar need the same approach. You would have to post a bond up front to recycle the toxic material at the end of their lives.
Redistribution of moisture, runoff, erosion, pollution (cadmium telluride)...
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