Solar panel recyclability is a huge issue for the popular renewable energy source. Many homes in the country had already adopted the technology's outstanding energy production and continued progress spurred by manufacturers, roofers, and intellectuals worldwide. Unfortunately, solar panels only get shredded and take too much time to break down as raw materials for new panels.
That's all about to change as analysts see a rise in demand for solar panels. As mining operations for crystals and other essential minerals to build sturdy solar panels become costly, recycling will take center stage. In doing so, most new solar panels in the future are likely retrieved from their older counterparts.
Many environmentalists have long raised waste solar panel material as a big problem for the entire industry. Recycling a dead solar panel's polysilicon takes so much energy, it's much better to mine a new one and ensure its high-quality performance for customers.
Recycling has always been the industry's friend. By taking some time recycling waste product materials, manufacturers and customers can lower the raw material prices of solar panels, the natural resources to recycle them, and increase solar panel productivity entirely.
The Verge has a comprehensive coverage about this topic. Read more about it below.
In the coming years, recyclers will hopefully be able to mine billions of dollars worth of materials from discarded solar panels, according to a new analysis published this week. That should ease bottlenecks in the supply chain for solar panels while also making the panels themselves more sustainable.
Right now, most dead solar panels in the US just get shredded or chucked into a landfill. The economics just don’t shake out in recycling’s favor. The value you can squeeze out of a salvaged panel hasn’t been enough to make up for the cost of transporting and recycling it. That’s on track to change, according to the recent analysis by research firm Rystad Energy.
MAKING THE PANELS THEMSELVES MORE SUSTAINABLE
Rystad expects the value of recyclable materials from solar panels to grow exponentially over the next several years, ballooning to $2.7 billion in 2030 from just $170 million this year. That’s thanks to a growing demand for solar coupled with an anticipated pinch in the materials needed to make panels. Technological advancements are also making it easier to extract more valuable materials from old panels, making recycling a sweeter deal financially.
Currently, solar energy makes up just over 3 percent of the global electricity mix. But the world’s energy systems are at the start of a drastic makeover to bring more renewable energy online. To keep the damaging effects of climate change at a more manageable level, the Paris climate accord commits countries to working together to quit releasing greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels over the next few decades. To hit that goal, solar could account for upwards of 40 percent of the global power supply. It also helps that solar panels have grown super affordable, becoming a cheaper source of electricity than coal or gas in most of the world. (Continue reading here)
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