Warning About
‘Environmental Danger’ of Solar Transition: LA Times
The LA Times published a report Thursday detailing the
“environmental danger” of expired solar panels on the environment.
“California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar
power, building up the largest solar market in the U.S.,” the article began.
“More than 20 years and 1.3 million rooftops later, the bill is coming due.”
The Times’ Rachel Kisela reported that many solar panels that
were purchased beginning in 2006, when the California government “showered
subsidies on homeowners” to inspire a transition away from fossil fuels, are
now reaching the end of their lifespan.
“Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize
people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed
photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now,
panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their 25-year
lifecycle,” Kisela reported.
The problem is, when solar panels end up in landfills,
“components that contain toxic heavy metals such as selenium and cadmium can
contaminate groundwater.”
This is an example of how environmental policies can have
unintended consequences. “The looming challenge over how to handle truckloads
of contaminated waste illustrates how cutting-edge environmental policy can
create unforeseen hazards down the road,” she said.
The Times reported that “as California barreled ahead on its
renewable-energy program, focusing on rebates and — more recently — a proposed
solar tax, questions about how to handle the toxic waste that would accrue
years later were never fully addressed.”
“Now, both regulators and panel manufacturers are realizing that
they don’t have the capacity to handle what comes next,” she continued.
Toxic waste from solar panels is not just a Californian problem,
but a problem nationwide. “About 140,000 panels are installed every day in the
United States, and the solar industry is expected to quadruple in size between
2020 and 2030,” Kisela said.
But there are difficulties surrounding disposal of solar panels,
“Recycling solar panels isn’t a simple process. Highly specialized equipment
and workers are needed to separate the aluminum frame and junction box from the
panel without shattering it into glass shards.”
“Specialized furnaces are used to heat panels to recover
silicon. In most states, panels are classified as hazardous materials, which
require expensive restrictions on packaging, transport and storage,” she
continued.
“A lack of consumer awareness about the toxicity of materials in
the panels and how to dispose of them is part of the problem,” Kisela wrote.
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