A large number of solar panels installed in the early 2000s are nearing the end of their life cycle, posing a serious problem for the solar industry as current solar panel disposal methods fall far short of environmentally friendly requirements. Solar Panel Waste: The Dark Side Of Clean Energy By Conor Prendergast The back of clean energy), abstracted below:
(Source: wechat official account "International Energy Small Data")
In theory, solar power is more promising than ever. Solar cells are getting easier and cheaper to produce. But solar photovoltaics have some less talked about questions: whether their production and waste produce more pollutants than the fossil fuels they are intended to replace remains a question that should be answered.
Making solar panels typically requires the use of several toxic chemicals. Solar panels have a useful life of about 20 to 30 years, and since their first large-scale installation in the early 2000s, a large number of solar panels have reached the end of their useful life. When solar panels are stacked in landfills, the toxic metals they contain can seep into the environment. If it enters groundwater, it could pose a public health hazard.
The silicon in the photovoltaic modules is supposed to be recyclable, but metals such as cadmium and lead are added to improve the electrical efficiency of the solar cells. This makes solar cells difficult to recycle because extracting harmful metals requires a considerable energy input. In fact, it often costs companies more to recycle solar panels than it does to produce them. Most solar pv recycling plants simply extract valuable silver and copper from the cells and then burn the contaminated glass and plastic casings in a furnace. Because the process is expensive and time consuming, it is easier to dump discarded solar panels into landfills or export them to third world countries.
Studies have shown that heavy metals (lead and cadmium) in solar panels can leach out of batteries into groundwater and affect plants and the environment. These metals also have adverse effects on human health, with lead damaging brain development in children and cadmium being a carcinogen. Developing countries may not have the infrastructure or regulations to properly dispose of waste from imported solar panels, and these metals can leach into the surrounding environment and cause public health problems. The problem is likely to worsen in the coming decades as solar pv expands in countries, with nearly 80 million tons of solar waste expected globally by 2050.
Fortunately, effective recycling methods do exist. First Solar, the largest Solar company in the United States, has facilities that can extract 90 percent of the material in Solar panels and then recycle it into new Solar panels or electronics. Veolia, a French company, has opened the first factory in Europe dedicated to recycling solar cells. Currently, China and the US are the biggest users of solar panels, but only Europe has taken steps to hold manufacturers responsible for their photovoltaic waste. The European Union requires solar companies to collect and recycle solar panels, with the cost of the recycling included in the sale price. In this way, the waste and environmental impact of solar panels is minimized, and consumers pay only a little more for solar panels.
Mandatory recycling isn't the only way to make solar greener, and a number of tech startups are looking at ways to make the actual manufacturing process cleaner. Scientists are exploring new ways to purify silicon for solar cells, or experimenting with low-grade silicon solar cells. A recent discovery in solar technology could eliminate the use of silicon altogether by using a material called perovskite. Instead of silicon crystals, perovskite solar cells are made of metallic crystals, usually lead. The raw materials and synthesis of perovskite cells are much cheaper than the high-purity silicon needed for traditional solar panels. There are only a few ways to make silicon solar cells, but there are many ways to make perovskite-type cells that can produce unique solar panels for different applications. Most promising, perovskite cells are easier to make, greener and already as efficient as silicon cells. And don't worry about lead either: perovskite batteries based on non-toxic metals such as tin or germanium are approaching the efficiency of lead batteries.
As society shifts from fossil fuels to energy, solar energy will be an important part of our future. As a result, we can expect the production of solar panels to increase over the next few decades, and potentially generate large amounts of hazardous waste. Although solar energy has great promise as a renewable energy source, society must also face up to the problem of pollution it brings, otherwise using solar energy could leave us in an even grimmer position than before.