Solar Panel Recycling in 2019: How it Works

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October 16, 2020 Update: America’s Largest Solar Panel-Maker Leads the World in Panel Recycling–Recovering 95% of Materials

Solar panel recycling is important for the future of solar. Solar panels have a lifetime of about 30 years. With the increasing number of solar panels being sold and installed in the United States each year, it’s only a matter of time before high volumes of silicon solar panels are at the end of their useful life and have to be disposed of. Solar panel recycling is still at a very early stage, but as the market continues to grow, it will have an important part to play in the solar industry.

Solar energy is inexpensive and environmentally friendly – until your solar panels have reached the end of their lifetime. After about 30 years, many crystalline silicon solar panels will start having significant dips in energy production and it may be time to replace them or dispose of them entirely.

Besides environmental protection, recycling solar panels will be economically impactful as well. Some of the rare elements in photovoltaic (PV) cells like gallium and indium are being depleted from the environment over time. If we were able to recover those elements, we can conserve the limited amount available on earth and continue to use them for solar panels and other products. Furthermore, a 2016 study by the International Renewable Agency (IRENA) estimated that $15 billion could be recovered from recycling solar modules by the year 2050.

What parts of solar panels can be recycled?

Recycling solar panels can only be effective if the materials used to build them are able to be used again, 30 or more years later. Solar panels are made from several components, including:

  • Silicon solar cells
  • Metal framing
  • Glass sheets
  • Wires
  • Plexiglas

Solar panels are good for the environment, and recycling is coming

While solar panel recycling isn’t widely available in the U.S. for all of the components in solar panels, there’s still a little time before the number of panels needing to be recycled gets too high. Groups like SEIA and Recycle PV are doing important groundwork for the industry, but there’s more to do in years to come.

California is in the process of determining how to divert solar panels from landfills, which is where they currently go, at the end of their life. When taking a product back to be recycled, reused or biodegradable it’ll be designed and engineered to accommodate for infrastructure by creating it’s own circular supply-chain infrastructure.

It is better to design and engineer sustainable circular economy solutions than simply create systems that are just another form of indulgence paid for our environmental sins while doing nothing about them. More circular solutions need to be created to counter the criticism of, “If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic Waste?“

Source: Solar Panel Recycling in 2019: How it Works | EnergySage

Coronavirus Inspires 64 Percent of Americans to Be More Eco-Friendly

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With people all across the U.S. spending more time at home during coronavirus quarantines, many Americans are rethinking their habits and trying to live more sustainably. According to a new survey, nearly two-thirds of people have been inspired to pick up more eco-friendly habits during the pandemic — and beyond.

Source: Coronavirus Inspires 64 Percent of Americans to Be More Eco-Friendly

Mitigation and Adaptation | Solutions – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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Responding to Climate Change

NASA is a world leader in climate studies and Earth science. While its role is not to set climate policy or prescribe particular responses or solutions to climate change, its purview does include providing the robust scientific data needed to understand climate change. NASA then makes this information available to the global community – the public, policy- and decision-makers and scientific and planning agencies around the world.

Source: Mitigation and Adaptation | Solutions – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

A Satellite Lets Scientists See Antarctica’s Melting Like Never Before

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New data from space is providing the most precise picture yet of Antarctica’s ice, where it is accumulating most quickly and disappearing at the fastest rate, and how the changes could contribute to rising sea levels.

The information, in a paper published on Thursday in the journal Science, will help researchers better understand the largest driver of ice loss in Antarctica, the thinning of floating ice shelves that allows more ice to flow from the interior to the ocean, and how that will contribute to rising sea levels. Researchers have known for a long time that, while the continent is losing mass over all as the climate changes, the change is uneven. It is gaining more ice in some areas, like parts of East Antarctica, and losing it quickly in others, in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Source: A Satellite Lets Scientists See Antarctica’s Melting Like Never Before – The New York Times

CASE Introduces World’s First Fully Electric Backhoe Loader

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Another milestone for the construction equipment industry: the first electric backhoe loader arrives.

CASE Construction Equipment unveiled “Project Zeus” – the all-new, all-electric CASE 580 EV backhoe loader, which turns out to be the first in the industry. We already saw electric excavators, loaders and some cool mining vehicles, but mostly on just a pilot scale.

It’s equipped with a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery and should be able to support an eight-hour workday in most of applications, offering:

  • power and performance equivalent to other diesel-powered backhoes
  • zero emission
  • quiter operation
  • expected lower daily operating costs
  • reduce maintenance demands
  • payback in around five years (the upfront cost is higher than diesel)

Source: CASE Introduces World’s First Fully Electric Backhoe Loader

Senator Booker Is Right about Factory Farming

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Should we pass legislation to end factory farming?

Contrary to common belief, Senator Cory Booker’s best idea wasn’t dropping out of the 2020 presidential race. That was his second-best idea. His best idea was introducing the Farm System Reform Bill of 2019 to the U.S. Senate.

This legislation would curtail concentrated animal-feeding operations (CAFOs), so-called factory farms, in the U.S. Let’s hope it becomes law. Factory farms are an abomination, cruel to animals and a bad deal for humans, too. The sooner we abolish them, the better. Until then, we should take steps to reduce them.

Source: Senator Booker Is Right about Factory Farming | National Review

The Energy Shift Approaches as Fossil Finance Dries Up | NRDC

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Coal has long been in decline, but with financial giants rethinking oil and gas, and a major proposed oil project folding, is the end in sight for new fossil fuel projects as well?

Around the globe, energy and urgency is growing to limit human-driven climate change as quickly as possible. A youth movement, responding to rising anxiety about a future dominated by climate change and the grim realities climate models foretell, is growing on a daily basis. Their battle? Take on the fossil fuel industry, the single largest contributor to our shared climate crisis.

Finding its future less certain than ever, fossil fuel giants insist they will play a positive role in reining in climate change, while their actions tell a totally different story. Spending millions of dollars on social media ads while pouring money almost exclusively into expanded production of products made from fossil fuels, their public “do-good” message is anything but. It’s just more duplicitous greenwashing. But it appears everyone from youth activists to investment bankers is starting to see through the thin green veneer.

Source: The Energy Shift Approaches as Fossil Finance Dries Up | NRDC

Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world

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One of the biggest modern myths about agriculture is that organic farming is inherently sustainable. It can be, but it isn’t necessarily. After all, soil erosion from chemical-free tilled fields undermined the Roman Empire and other ancient societies around the world. Other agricultural myths hinder recognizing the potential to restore degraded soils to feed the world using fewer agrochemicals.

Source: Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world

Fungus provides powerful medicine in fighting honey bee viruses: Mycelium extract reduces viruses in honey bees

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A mushroom extract fed to honey bees greatly reduces virus levels, according to a new paper. In field trials, colonies fed mycelium extract showed a 79-fold reduction in deformed wing virus and a 45,000-fold reduction in Lake Sinai virus compared to control colonies. The hope is that the results of this research will help dwindling honey bee colonies fight viruses that are known to play a role in colony collapse disorder.

Source: Fungus provides powerful medicine in fighting honey bee viruses: Mycelium extract reduces viruses in honey bees — ScienceDaily

San Antonio to Combat ‘Climate Emergency’ with New Action Plan

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One of America’s highest Latino-populated cities now has a strategy to address the climate crisis.

Earlier this month, the San Antonio (64% Latino) City Council passed Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) by a 10-1 vote. It outlines objectives that will aim to reduce the city’s greenhouse emissions by 2050 and achieve climate equity for all populations.

This plan follows in suit with many cities across the U.S. that are taking personal responsibility for its role in the climate crisis.

“We declare that we will not be bystanders,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said, according to the Rivard Report. “In no simpler terms, here and around the world, we are in a climate emergency.”

Source: San Antonio to Combat ‘Climate Emergency’ with New Action Plan

Moss-growing concrete absorbs CO2, insulates and is also a vertical garden

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Sustainability has always been a game of catch up. The current energy production and construction trends mean that sustainability researchers have to come up with clever ways to lower emissions.

Researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona have found a creative solution to a long-established emissions problem. They discovered how to cleverly build megastructures with a biological concrete that lowers CO2, regulates heat and is totally eye catching. Its surface grows mosses, lich

Source: Moss-growing concrete absorbs CO2, insulates and is also a vertical garden

Fee-dividend climate plan right balance

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How to solve the political paradox of climate change?

While most Americans accept that man-made climate change is real, they are divided about what to do in response to it and how urgently to take action.

Recent polling from the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation found nearly 8 in 10 Americans agree human activity is changing the Earth’s climate. And the majority of Americans — about two-thirds — would like to see the federal government do more to mitigate climate change. In terms of public opinion, this suggests the debate about climate change has been settled.

The real debate is about what to do — and who will bear the responsibility for necessary change. Only half the respondents believed climate change should be urgently addressed over the coming decade — a significant increase compared with just years ago, but still low for something that scientists have repeatedly characterized as an existential threat.

Likewise, half of adults responding to the poll said they would be willing to pay $2 a month more on their electric bills to address climate change, the Post reported. But 75 percent of respondents balked at the idea of paying $10 a month. And while the majority of respondents support fuel-efficiency standards, they also oppose increasing federal and gas taxes, which haven’t been raised in a generation. In short, the vast majority of Americans are concerned about climate change and want something to be done, but many people don’t want to pay for addressing it.

Source: Fee-dividend climate plan right balance – San Antonio Express, 10/10/2019

BBC – Future – How brain biases prevent climate action

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Cognitive biases that ensured our initial survival now make it difficult to address long-term challenges that threaten our existence, like climate change. But they can help us too.

We know that climate change is happening. We also know that it’s the result of increased carbon emissions from human activities like land degradation and the burning of fossil fuels. And we know that it’s urgent.

Source: BBC – Future – How brain biases prevent climate action

Vast subsidies keeping the fossil fuel industry afloat should be put to better use

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Capitalism has often been identified as the underlying cause of the climate crisis. A leading voice on the subject is Naomi Klein, one of the climate movements most influential thinkers, whose seminal book on climate change was subtitled Capitalism vs. the Climate. She is one of many voices identifying capitalism as the cause of climate change.

Often central within the capitalism versus the climate framing is the idea that the heart of capitalist ideology—free market fundamentalism—has fueled the climate crisis. But this line of argument often glosses over the fact that energy markets are not free from government intervention. In fact, the fossil fuel industry is deeply and increasingly reliant on government support to survive.

Source: Vast subsidies keeping the fossil fuel industry afloat should be put to better use

Compare EVs: Guide To Range, Specs, Pricing & More

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Compare EVs: Guide To Range, Specs, Pricing & More

Understanding all the choices when it comes to plug-in electric vehicles can be a daunting task. Luckily, we’ve done a lot of the lifting work for you.

More Details – Over 50 Plug-In EVs Compared: Price, Range + More

Which EV costs the least?  Which one goes the furthest? How much federal tax incentive will that vehicle quality for?  How quick is it?  The list of possible criteria goes on and on. Here are some handy specs, all laid out side-by-side, to make comparing EVs much easier for you:

See Our Plug-In Electric Car Sales Scorecard Here

Source: InsideEVs

New Solar + Battery Price Crushes Fossil Fuels, Buries Nuclear

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Los Angeles Power and Water officials have struck a deal on the largest and cheapest solar + battery-storage project in the world, at prices that leave fossil fuels in the dust and may relegate nuclear power to the dustbin.

Later this month the LA Board of Water and Power Commissioners is expected to approve a 25-year contract that will serve 7 percent of the city’s electricity demand at 1.997¢/kwh for solar energy and 1.3¢ for power from batteries.

“This is the lowest solar-photovoltaic price in the United States,” said James Barner, the agency’s manager for strategic initiatives, “and it is the largest and lowest-cost solar and high-capacity battery-storage project in the U.S. and we believe in the world today. So this is, I believe, truly revolutionary in the industry.”

Source: New Solar + Battery Price Crushes Fossil Fuels, Buries Nuclear

Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says

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Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report.

The Carbon Majors Report (pdf) “pinpoints how a relatively small set of fossil fuel producers may hold the key to systemic change on carbon emissions,” says Pedro Faria, technical director at environmental non-profit CDP, which published the report in collaboration with the Climate Accountability Institute.

The report found that more than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 – the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established – can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities. The scale of historical emissions associated with these fossil fuel producers is large enough to have contributed significantly to climate change, according to the report.

ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, says the report, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4C by the end of the century. This is likely to have catastrophic consequences including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks.

Source: Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says | Guardian Sustainable Business | The Guardian

What’s Worrying the Plastics Industry? Your Reaction to All That Waste, for One

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HOUSTON — One by one, they stepped to a clear plastic lectern at the Global Plastics Summit here and talked about what their companies were doing in response to the world’s crisis in plastics waste.

Representing businesses all along the supply and packaging chain, the speakers suggested solutions ranging from new technology that would take plastic back to its molecular building blocks for repeated recycling to redesigning plastic bottles with caps that stay connected to the bottle.

But none of that is happening fast enough to keep pace with the global production of plastics, an analyst from IHS Markit told some 270 people attending the 2019 Global Plastics Summit.

Source: What’s Worrying the Plastics Industry? Your Reaction to All That Waste, for One | InsideClimate News