Dear EarthTalk! How will we handle all the waste in 20-30 years when everyone installs solar panels?
- Paul B., Chevy Chase, MD
When looking for eco-friendly home power generation options, the average consumer looks for a variety of options. Many hope to find the most efficient, lightest or strongest options, but what about the most recyclable ones?
This question is often overlooked with such purchases. Unfortunately, ignoring the product life cycle can be disastrous, especially when you're concerned about reducing your environmental impact.
Take solar panels for example. The average solar panel lasts about 25 years, and most are purchased and used within the last 10 years. This means that over the next 15 years, millions of used and broken solar panels will end up in landfills. A 2020 study by the government-funded National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates that 8 million tons of solar panels could end up in landfills worldwide by 2030, and that solar panels could account for 10% of all electricity by 2050. waste on the planet.
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Worse yet, if the waste is not disposed of properly, it can cause problems with nearby groundwater. Solar cells contain large amounts of toxic compounds such as lead and a carcinogen called cadmium telluride. If any of these chemicals get into a freshwater source, the water in most containers becomes undrinkable.
Although solar panels are recyclable, there is little incentive to do so. A solar cell made from materials such as aluminum, copper, silicon and glass can be 80-85% recyclable; In reality, however, the process costs more than the cost of the raw materials.
Fortunately, the US Department of Energy's Office of Solar Energy Technologies is working hard to create a comprehensive system for managing and recycling solar panels. By 2030, they want to lower the cost of recycling solar panels to $3 per panel. This reduction will indeed make solar panel recycling a viable business.
However, it is possible to recover new solar cells from old ones. However, this would require direct reuse of recovered materials. For example, silicon can be recycled directly into solar cells or used in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries, functional energy storage devices made from solar cells.
What about making solar panels more durable? Instead of silicon solar cells (which are commonly purchased) there is another option known as Sunflare thin film solar panels. Lightweight modules have a 20% smaller carbon footprint than silicon, require no toxic chemicals like lead, cadmium, hydrofluoric or hydrochloric acid, require less water and are 80% less energy intensive to manufacture. . They're thin, don't require silicone filtering, have no glass or mounts, and are even more effective in low light.
