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Thread: If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic Waste?

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    FindersKeepers's Avatar Senior Member
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    If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic Waste?

    Nothing green or clean about it...

    • The problem of solar panel disposal “will explode with full force in two or three decades and wreck the environment” because it “is a huge amount of waste and they are not easy to recycle.”
    • “The reality is that there is a problem now, and it’s only going to get larger, expanding as rapidly as the PV industry expanded 10 years ago.”
    • “Contrary to previous assumptions, pollutants such as lead or carcinogenic cadmium can be almost completely washed out of the fragments of solar modules over a period of several months, for example by rainwater.”
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/michael.../#5432f9c3121c
    ""A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" ~George Bernard Shaw

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    This is one of the facts I posted about this subject. The toxic waste that comes from producing them is not reasonably recyclable
    For waltky: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
    "The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
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    Many experts urge mandatory recycling. The main finding promoted by IRENA's in its 2016 report was that, “If fully injected back into the economy, the value of the recovered material [from used solar panels] could exceed USD 15 billion by 2050.” -- https://www.forbes.com/sites/michael.../#5ddad731121c
    Don't see why recycling solar is more difficult than recycling anything else.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lummy View Post
    Don't see why recycling solar is more difficult than recycling anything else.
    It is the chemical by-products that are derived that cannot be recycled.
    For waltky: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
    "The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
    - Thucydides

    "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" B. Franklin
    Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lummy View Post
    Don't see why recycling solar is more difficult than recycling anything else.
    https://www.instituteforenergyresear...mental-crisis/
    Environmental Issues with Solar Panels
    Solar panels are manufactured using hazardous materials, such as sulfuric acid and phosphine gas, which make them difficult to recycle. They cannot be stored in landfills without protections against contamination. They contain toxic metals like lead, which can damage the nervous system, as well as chromium and cadmium, known carcinogens that can leak out of existing e-waste dumps into drinking water supplies.
    They create more hazardous waste than nuclear plants and there's no good solution for disposing of them.

    Regardless, the waste disposal issues regarding solar panels are enormous. According to an analysis by Environmental Progress, solar panels create about 300 times more toxic waste per unit of electricity generated than nuclear power plants. For example, 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 52 meters (the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa), while the solar waste would reach 16 kilometers (the height of two Mt. Everests).
    Plus they have a much shorter useful life, which means the waste is produced more often.
    ""A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" ~George Bernard Shaw

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    God, I hope JAP doesn't read this.
    Liberals are a clear and present danger to our nation
    Pick your enemies carefully.






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    That's it, then. I can't help you. I've opposed solar since the 1970's when it was determined that it was not efficient and didn't save energy and whatever so forth.

    Solar is solely a political gambit with a bunch of pleasant sound bytes stuck to it.

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