5 ms·

Guess again. The solar panel can be made into more solar panels (or bottles or any other use for glass which is 95% of the material) at a profit. One person ne

Guess again. The solar panel can be made into more solar panels (or bottles or any other use for glass which is 95% of the material) at a profit. One person needs 1-3t of them to exist (about 9t if you throw them all away) to provide their energy plus about 1-3t of some kind of frame (usually steel). The kg or so of uranium is spent fuel which is the really dangerous stuff. Then you have 10-100x as much moderate level waste. 10kg of depleted uranium (still a toxic heavy metal) and 30 tonnes of mining tailings including 1t of ultra toxic heavy metal sulfuric acid sludge and 2-4 tonnes of the reactor itself (of which about half is recyclable).

jjeaff 4y ago
Except 90% of solar panels don't get recycled. Only hypothetically could be. If we are going to play hypotheticals, there are viable nuclear technologies that produce almost no waste and can even harvest radioactive material from ocean water. Add to that, with solar, you will also need a lot of lithium and whatever other noxious chemicals for all the batteries for when the sun isn't out.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  > Except 90% of solar panels don't get recycled. There isn't much of a solar recycling industry because there are very few worn out Monocrystalline solar panels (the type that makes up the majority of installed panels and almost all new production have only been common for 10 years, they haven't worn out yet). And it's not hypothetical, it's legally mandated and there are companies scaling up to deal with it now http://www.solarwaste.eu/in-your-country/united-kingdom/ http://www.solarwaste.eu/in-your-country/united-kingdom/ Unlike the nuclear industry that doesn't even have a permanent plan for burying the much larger quantity of waste it generates (much of which is still long lived low level waste). > Add to that, with solar, you will also need a lot of lithium and whatever other noxious chemicals for all the batteries for when the sun isn't out. A kilogram of lithium is much less toxic to mine than a kilogram of natural uranium. 1kg of natural uranium can provide about 150g of fuel producing 1kW for 6 years and then it's high level waste that has to be handled for millenia. The lithium on the other hand can provide about 8kWh of storage for 10 years and non toxic prussian blue/sodium ion batteries are having 100s of GWh/yr of production built out for 2026. At the end you still have it if needed (or you can just leave it somewhere until you do need it).

jjeaff 4y ago

Except 90% of solar panels don't get recycled. Only hypothetically could be. If we are going to play hypotheticals, there are viable nuclear technologies that produce almost no waste and can even harvest radioactive material from ocean water. Add to that, with solar, you will also need a lot of lithium and whatever other noxious chemicals for all the batteries for when the sun isn't out.

Schroedingersat 4y ago
> Except 90% of solar panels don't get recycled. There isn't much of a solar recycling industry because there are very few worn out Monocrystalline solar panels (the type that makes up the majority of installed panels and almost all new production have only been common for 10 years, they haven't worn out yet). And it's not hypothetical, it's legally mandated and there are companies scaling up to deal with it now http://www.solarwaste.eu/in-your-country/united-kingdom/ http://www.solarwaste.eu/in-your-country/united-kingdom/ Unlike the nuclear industry that doesn't even have a permanent plan for burying the much larger quantity of waste it generates (much of which is still long lived low level waste). > Add to that, with solar, you will also need a lot of lithium and whatever other noxious chemicals for all the batteries for when the sun isn't out. A kilogram of lithium is much less toxic to mine than a kilogram of natural uranium. 1kg of natural uranium can provide about 150g of fuel producing 1kW for 6 years and then it's high level waste that has to be handled for millenia. The lithium on the other hand can provide about 8kWh of storage for 10 years and non toxic prussian blue/sodium ion batteries are having 100s of GWh/yr of production built out for 2026. At the end you still have it if needed (or you can just leave it somewhere until you do need it).