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Do you think solar panels are infinite? Have you looked at the price of lithium lately? It's been exploding and the only reason solar panels are economically vi

by culi 4y ago

Do you think solar panels are infinite? Have you looked at the price of lithium lately? It's been exploding and the only reason solar panels are economically viable is due to heavy gov't subsidization. What happens when a solar panel dies out after ~25 years? We're already in an e-waste crisis. Less than 10% of panels in the US get "recycled" (and by that ofc we mean shipping them to 3rd world countries so we don't have to deal with it). There's only one facility in the whole world currently that has the capability to fully recycle a PV panel (Veolia in France). Every other place just takes the easy parts out and dumps the rest because the economics and risks to health aren't worth it Not to mention rapidly ramping up production of stuff like EVs is going to have devastating immediate impacts on the climate. EVs are only more carbon-efficient than ICEs after a few years. The reason for that is because of the initial production of EVs produces almost twice as many GHG emissions as the production of an ICE. That's significant since initial production can be as much as half of a vehicle's lifetime GHG emissions

Retric 4y ago
> Do you think solar panels are infinite In practice they basically are. Panels are 90-95% silicon which makes up for around 28% of earths crust. That’s largely why they aren’t recycled, they simply aren’t made of partially valuable stuff. The mounting brackets etc on the other hand are actually recycled.
- cassepipe 4y ago
  But you are missing the point, getting lithium, mining in general, or other collecting practices require a lot of carbonized energy or have bad influence on ecosystems that actually are guarding against worse climate change
  - Retric 4y ago
    Using words like “a lot” is deceptive here, quantities can be large relative to individuals and minuscule relative to the environment. That said, mining can be done using 100% renewable energy just like anything else.

by culi 4y ago

Retric 4y ago

> Do you think solar panels are infinite In practice they basically are. Panels are 90-95% silicon which makes up for around 28% of earths crust. That’s largely why they aren’t recycled, they simply aren’t made of partially valuable stuff. The mounting brackets etc on the other hand are actually recycled.

cassepipe 4y ago
But you are missing the point, getting lithium, mining in general, or other collecting practices require a lot of carbonized energy or have bad influence on ecosystems that actually are guarding against worse climate change
- Retric 4y ago
  Using words like “a lot” is deceptive here, quantities can be large relative to individuals and minuscule relative to the environment. That said, mining can be done using 100% renewable energy just like anything else.