Dangerous solar panels!

[Scubawise]

This will be fun


Will this happen to our MH

From Fox News - LA Times report warns about 'environmental danger' in solar transition
LA Times report warns about 'environmental danger' in solar transition

https://www.foxnews.com/media/la-tim...lar-transition


https://www.foxnews.com/media/la-tim...lar-transition


The LA Times published a report Thursday detailing the "environmental danger" of expired solar panels on the environment.*

[lwmcguir]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

This will be fun


Will this happen to our MH

From Fox News - LA Times report warns about 'environmental danger' in solar transition
LA Times report warns about 'environmental danger' in solar transition

https://www.foxnews.com/media/la-tim...lar-transition


https://www.foxnews.com/media/la-tim...lar-transition


The LA Times published a report Thursday detailing the "environmental danger" of expired solar panels on the environment.*

Read that one and several in earlier years forecasting the disposal issue. It is right up there with EV batteries and will result in a user cost down the road.

They are correct in that it poses a threat to the aquifers, and it must be contained either with a retard or some other disposal means. Our water quality is being threatened by many contaminants, one of which is surfactants and another micro plastic

A bit of an update on the wind turbine blades that were being hauled up to your old country and buried GE (my old employer) has come up with a method of grinding them up and adding them to cement in place of some of the aggregate, similar to the fiberglass used to minimize cracks now utilized

Don't think we will be grinding up solar panels or EV batteries though

[Chateau_Nomad]

If the price is right, a "the sky is falling" narrative can be created for just about anything!

I'm replacing an aluminum and vinyl truck cap next week... the old one will go to the dump. How many others are in there? And these things sure don't last 25 years!

And remember all the horror stories about vulcanized rubber (tires) that will NEVER disappear? Yes they're on river banks in West Virginia, but they are being used as artificial turf base and mixed with asphalt in highways. It just takes a little creativity to solve scary "problems".

[MLP]

Solar Panel are recyclable up to 90%. Lead in electronic equipment has been outlawed for MIL and NASA and I suspect anything being sold to Europe. The Europeans outlawed it for all commercial products. It is a IPC requirement. Tin 99%, copper .7%, and silver .3% solder is used. All components sold are tin or gold plated.

[Hooligan2]

Originally Posted by MLP

Solar Panel are recyclable up to 90%. Lead in electronic equipment has been outlawed for MIL and NASA and I suspect anything being sold to Europe. The Europeans outlawed it for all commercial products. It is a IPC requirement. Tin 99%, copper .7%, and silver .3% solder is used. All components sold are tin or gold plated.

----------------
Depends on who you believe. Companies making the panels paint that comforting picture. Other reports show they are difficult to recycle, there is toxic waste and it's more expensive to recycle than the original panels cost. Panels have both solid and liquid waste. Landfills or overseas dumping is more expedient.

[Judge]

It's not that solar panels that will be bad as much as the batteries. It takes mining a few thousand pounds of earth to obtain enough of the rare earth metals needed to produce a single Lithium battery for an automotive application. That means strip mining billions and billions of pounds of earth to make enough batteries. Don't think that will be bad for the environment... water supplies.... etc.? Think again.

And guess where most of these rare earth metals reside? It ain't the US......

And I haven't even gotten to the storage, disposal and recycling of the old Lithium batteries.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Somehow we "recycle" lead-acid batteries. I won't go into all the hazards of lead, but somehow it's quietly been pushed aside for more sensational hot-button headliners.

Forward thinkers associate batteries with energy storage. The methods and materials WILL change over time... nickel cadmium vs lithium chemistry. Technically hydrogen is an energy storage medium... so isn't gasoline and diesel.

When vast energy monopolies are threatened you see all sorts of responses. It's all about protecting turf. All the hidden nasty elements of each method are brought into light... which is good for humanity.

But don't get caught up in the politics... which are driven by the immense financial incentives. Focus instead on the hard to find science behind each evolving technology. It's there... you just have to dig a little.

[Judge]

And there is the key….. one alternative energy solution isn’t necessarily better for the environment or people in genral than the other.

Hydrogen would be the best for the environment but not necessarily the safest until the technolgy to safely harness and store it exists for things like vehicles.

Nuclear energy is also making a comeback in parts if the world.

Solar and Lithium Batteries have its place…. I do like it for my RV. But Its not a good fit for many parts of the country.

Oil vs Solar / Electric is more a political and business battle than it is protecting the earth or making the US energy independent battle.

[lwmcguir]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Somehow we "recycle" lead-acid batteries. I won't go into all the hazards of lead, but somehow it's quietly been pushed aside for more sensational hot-button headliners.

Forward thinkers associate batteries with energy storage. The methods and materials WILL change over time... nickel cadmium vs lithium chemistry. Technically hydrogen is an energy storage medium... so isn't gasoline and diesel.

When vast energy monopolies are threatened you see all sorts of responses. It's all about protecting turf. All the hidden nasty elements of each method are brought into light... which is good for humanity.

But don't get caught up in the politics... which are driven by the immense financial incentives. Focus instead on the hard to find science behind each evolving technology. It's there... you just have to dig a little.

Most if not all the lead recycling smelters in the US were shut down a few years ago. The recycled lead usually goes in for ships ballast. India, not surprising has the world's market on lead smelters operating daily

I would suspect that solar panels at some point will be shipped abroad for Recyling as well

[DaveDopp]

The idea that a 25-year-old solar panel has reached the end of its useful life is nuts! The vast majority of old panels are still generating 80 percent (or more) of rated capacity. The original cost (including installation) of the panel is usually recovered in ten or fifteen years.

There are a few companies already buying used panels for use in smaller projects. One nonprofit company buys the panels to use on houses in poor, rural communities in Mexico. They cost from five to fifteen cents per watt generated (compare to 50 cents per watt for a new panel.)

It will likely be at least fifteen more years before we have infrastructure in place to economically recycle old solar panels. Repurposing those older panels seems eminently more sensible than scrapping them!

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.co...cling-markets/

[Hooligan2]

And of course Daves "Solar power World" has no interest in a positive outlook for used panels. Most of the materials shipped over seas for recycle are "out of sight out of mind".

[Scubawise]

Are old solar panels worth anything?
It depends, but a used thick-film solar panel could contain as many as 13 troy ounces of silver. With current silver prices hovering at about $20 per troy ounce, the silver in each of your panels could be worth as much as $160