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I've always wondered just how awful the run off from rain landing on solar panels is as far as those nasty sort of chemicals that we then find out are terribly
by tenpies 4y ago
I've always wondered just how awful the run off from rain landing on solar panels is as far as those nasty sort of chemicals that we then find out are terribly carcinogenic or disruptive to human health. Same would apply to water condensation forming below the panels and dripping back into the canal.
Given the materials that go into solar panels and the proximity to water that will end up in either the food supply, or inside people; I would hope they at least run some tests.
- stevenhuang 4y agoSolar panels are fully encased in glass enclosures, so I'm pretty sure there is no runoff, but yeah putting them above water ways like this does make you think. The heavy metals in solar panel waste you typically hear of is for discarded and broken cells in landfills iirc.
- etrautmann 4y agoNo - any toxic materials in a solar panel are bound up in the silicon and unable to leech out. Rain is generally good, as it cleans dust off and increases efficiency. Pollution is not a concern at all with solar.
- epistasis 4y agoThere's a concerted disinformation campaign out there to try to insinuate that solar panels break and then poison the ground. Here's a podcast covering some of it and the funding mechanisms that help push it: https://overcast.fm/+0-PqLPM34 https://overcast.fm/+0-PqLPM34 People will believe anything with the right confusing language. Throw in "rare earth minerals" and everybody gets as scared as if you call water "dihydrogen monoxide." https://dhmo.org/facts.html https://dhmo.org/facts.html