Author Topic: 'Solar trash tsunami': How solar power is driving a looming environmental crisis  (Read 385 times)

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Offline Ptarmigan

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'Solar trash tsunami': How solar power is driving a looming environmental crisis
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/solar-trash-tsunami-how-solar-power-is-driving-a-looming-environmental-crisis

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The meteoric rise of solar power is set to spark a “tsunami” of unrecyclable trash as consumers trade out their obsolete solar panels for better ones, according to new research out of the University of Calgary.

“Put simply, we can expect a lot more solar panel waste within the next decade than we are prepared for,” wrote a team led by Calgary-based supply chain researcher Serasu Duran in a pre-publication paper.

The study — which attempted to estimated the raw tonnage of solar panels set to hit landfills in coming years — warned that if the solar industry doesn’t get a handle on its trash problem, “we may soon face the dark side of renewable energy.”

Solar power is not exactly green energy. Disposing them is an environmental problem in itself.

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However, solar panels have a short lifespan and are particularly ill-suited for recycling. They contain very few materials worth recovering, and as bulky sheets of glass, they’re expensive to transport to a recycling facility.

“To the best of our knowledge, there is no consensus regarding an effective recycling technology for 90+ per cent glass panels. Nor there are any widespread established regulations,” Duran told the National Post. “Anyone can pretty much take a tv to a municipal recycling center, not so much with a rooftop solar panel.”

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) was sounding the alarm on solar waste as early as 2016, warning that by 2050 the world would need to figure out a way to deal with up to 78 million tonnes of outdated solar infrastructure. For context, New York City — one of the most trash-producing cities on the entire planet — produces only 14 million tonnes of waste each year.
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Offline Old n Grumpy

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Someone needs to tell AOC that if to many solar panels are installed they will absorb all the sunlight and throw the planet into darkness and a new ice age. :-) :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

The stupid scrunt will surely believe it. :thatsright:
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Offline thundley4

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Someone needs to tell AOC that if to many solar panels are installed they will absorb all the sunlight and throw the planet into darkness and a new ice age. :-) :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

The stupid scrunt will surely believe it. :thatsright:

Wind turbines will absorb all the wind energy and there will be no more breezes.