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California went big on rooftop solar. Now that's a problem for landfills

28 points by tamaharbor 4y ago

toomuchtodo 4y ago
This is a legislation issue, not a technology capability issue. Solar panels can be recycled similar to other e-waste. Possibly something Redwood Materials might pick up based on the raw materials available from EOL PV panels and their geographic location (Carson City, NV). https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/07/18/theres-big-money-in-recycling-materials-from-solar-panels/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/07/18/theres-big-money-in-r... https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling https://blog.veolianorthamerica.com/how-to-recycle-solar-panels-lithium-batteries-and-electronics https://blog.veolianorthamerica.com/how-to-recycle-solar-pan...
- Proven 4y ago
ab_testing 4y ago
Sorry, this might seem like a dumb question but those used solar panels still produce some electricity. Why can't California pull a bunch of them from the landfill, put them in the California desert and connect them to the power lines to create a mini power plant.
- kardos 4y ago
  Labour intensive to round them up, test them, and design/build custom circuitry to hook up a pile of dissimilar panels. Then you have a pile of near EOL panels with reduced output and reduced reliability that is unlikely to ever break even. When it falls apart there will be no money to ship them back to the landfill. So in short, it's a roundabout way to dump them in the desert.
  - freemint 4y ago
    Then ship them to a place where labour is cheaper.
- xsmasher 4y ago
  A reuse / thrift store near me takes donations of old solar panels and resells them at dirt-cheap prices; apparently there's a market for these panels with DIYers.
IronWolve 4y ago
I thought solar panels (if still working) will be around 70-80% after 25 years, is that also why people are replacing them? Seems used solar panels could still be used as long as people know its degraded. I have degraded rechargeable batteries, and I keep using them until they die, I just rotate them out to non critical items I dont care about. Also, Those glass panels could be used for items like greenhouses? Building materials? People are building with car tires, should be something you could use non working ones for, or cutting out good cells, etc. Something.
Arnt 4y ago
I want to digress. «Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their typical 25-to-30-year life cycle. Many are already winding up in landfills, where in some cases, they could potentially contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.» «Beginning in 2006» plus «typical 25-30 years life cycle», is «already» for «many» of them. And the headline says «now». I'm so tired of articles whose math doesn't add up and without any explanation. I'm not saying there can be no explanation, good or bad, or that the substantive issue isn't real, I'm just so tired of there being no explanation when the numbers don't add up.
eternityforest 4y ago
Is it actually a big issue? It's bad, but if you compare, say, pounds of aluminum in solar panels to pounds of soda cans that didn't get recycled and wads of burrito wrapper tinfoil, are the solar panels really a super big issue? Then again, without articles like this they might just do nothing, so maybe a certain amount of hype for smaller issues is a good thing.
IXxXI 4y ago
Last I checked, solar panels are manufactured from refined silicon which is derived from sand. It can be recycled and used for a variety of applications.

28 points by tamaharbor 4y ago

This is a legislation issue, not a technology capability issue. Solar panels can be recycled similar to other e-waste. Possibly something Redwood Materials might pick up based on the raw materials available from EOL PV panels and their geographic location (Carson City, NV). https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/07/18/theres-big-money-in-recycling-materials-from-solar-panels/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/07/18/theres-big-money-in-r... https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling https://blog.veolianorthamerica.com/how-to-recycle-solar-panels-lithium-batteries-and-electronics https://blog.veolianorthamerica.com/how-to-recycle-solar-pan...

Proven 4y ago

ab_testing 4y ago

Sorry, this might seem like a dumb question but those used solar panels still produce some electricity. Why can't California pull a bunch of them from the landfill, put them in the California desert and connect them to the power lines to create a mini power plant.

kardos 4y ago
Labour intensive to round them up, test them, and design/build custom circuitry to hook up a pile of dissimilar panels. Then you have a pile of near EOL panels with reduced output and reduced reliability that is unlikely to ever break even. When it falls apart there will be no money to ship them back to the landfill. So in short, it's a roundabout way to dump them in the desert.
- freemint 4y ago
  Then ship them to a place where labour is cheaper.
xsmasher 4y ago
A reuse / thrift store near me takes donations of old solar panels and resells them at dirt-cheap prices; apparently there's a market for these panels with DIYers.

IronWolve 4y ago

I thought solar panels (if still working) will be around 70-80% after 25 years, is that also why people are replacing them? Seems used solar panels could still be used as long as people know its degraded. I have degraded rechargeable batteries, and I keep using them until they die, I just rotate them out to non critical items I dont care about. Also, Those glass panels could be used for items like greenhouses? Building materials? People are building with car tires, should be something you could use non working ones for, or cutting out good cells, etc. Something.

Arnt 4y ago

I want to digress. «Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their typical 25-to-30-year life cycle. Many are already winding up in landfills, where in some cases, they could potentially contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.» «Beginning in 2006» plus «typical 25-30 years life cycle», is «already» for «many» of them. And the headline says «now». I'm so tired of articles whose math doesn't add up and without any explanation. I'm not saying there can be no explanation, good or bad, or that the substantive issue isn't real, I'm just so tired of there being no explanation when the numbers don't add up.

eternityforest 4y ago

Is it actually a big issue? It's bad, but if you compare, say, pounds of aluminum in solar panels to pounds of soda cans that didn't get recycled and wads of burrito wrapper tinfoil, are the solar panels really a super big issue? Then again, without articles like this they might just do nothing, so maybe a certain amount of hype for smaller issues is a good thing.

IXxXI 4y ago

Last I checked, solar panels are manufactured from refined silicon which is derived from sand. It can be recycled and used for a variety of applications.