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So how recyclable are the components in this tech compared to wind or using giant solar furnaces? Not to mention the ceiling in Si based solar panel carnot eff

• epistasis 5y ago
  It's funny, nobody ever asks about recycling thermal plants, they only ever ask about the waste that comes from solar panels or wind turbines? Why the double standard, I wonder? In any case, the biggest expense of solar panel recycling is transport of the panels to the recycling center. > Not to mention the ceiling in Si based solar panel carnot efficiency which the whole industry is banging it's head against the table over I'm not following what you're saying. Carnot efficiency is a limitation of heat engines, not solar panels. And nobody is banging their head into solar panel efficiency limits, increased efficient of panels only enables cheaper costs. In contrast, the limited efficiency of large heat engines, such as nuclear or gas or coal electricity plants, means that waste heat must be dissipated into the environment. And when using natural bodies of water for this, the common choice, we are going tons be turning off a lot of these more often as the climate warms. This is already happening frequently in Europe. Solar panel efficiency declines a bit in heat, but they don't trip off. > Solar is to renewable as fusion is to fission 30+ years away. At least with fission the promise is clean limitless energy not higher efficiencies and the ability to recycle materials in a slightly less labour intensive way Solar is here today, we deploy hundreds of gigawatts of solar each year across the globe. It's the cheapest source of energy nearly everywhere in the world. Even the IEA, an organization hostile to renewable energy that constantly tries to undermine it in their editorial choices and modeling scenarios, to the point that the IEA is now considered a joke by many in the business community, has had to admit that solar is cheapest: https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-is-now-cheapest-electricity-in-history-confirms-iea https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-is-now-cheapest-electricit...
  • rob_c 5y ago
    Recycling a mirror is much easier. Recycling or improving the thermal chamber largely involves recycling high percentage pure (to withstand heat) metals. Recycling embedded silicon solar panels involves breaking the glass from the substrate reliablely and safely. Extracting the low percentage high value rate earths. Then repurifying the Si from the expensive dopants to remake a panel. Designing solar panels to make this easier losses vital efficiency percentages. Not to mention most solar panels claim to pay for themselves in 100yr in some regions but have a lifetime of 30yr. So yes then recycling must be built into the model. And of course common to both electrical motors used for panel positioning and orientation. Which are a common repairable and understood thing.