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tl;dr No. > It is hoped a major step will be taken at the end of June, when the world's first factory dedicated to fully recycling solar panels officially open
by Kelteseth 3y ago
tl;dr No.
> It is hoped a major step will be taken at the end of June, when the world's first factory dedicated to fully recycling solar panels officially opens in France.
> ROSI, the specialist solar recycling company which owns the facility, in the Alpine city of Grenoble, hopes eventually to be able to extract and re-use 99% of a unit's components.
- ciconia 3y agoNote that use of the verb "hope" and the adverb "eventually". At this stage it's pure speculation. Besides, the act of recycling in itself comes with its own problems: energy use (it would be interesting to have an estimate of EROEI of recyled solar panels), fresh water usage, pollution and effluents, and finally the recycling rate (how much of the input is actually recycled). It is relevant IMO to note that after decades of plastic recycling operations, the rate of plastic waste being actually recycled is at about 9%. And recycled plastic in itself has degraded performance characteristics.
- ZeroGravitas 3y agoEven in worst case scenarios (short lifetime, no reuse, no recycling, dumped in badly run landfills) it's an environmental and economic win. All the stuff being discussed is pure upside, and easily achievable.