In California, solar panels have been used to generate electricity for over 20 years, and considering their lifetime is 25-30 years, they may soon face the problem of destruction.
But not “California United”. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that the volume of spent solar panels by 2050 will reach 78 million tons in the worst case.
Solar panels are high in toxic heavy metals, including lead, selenium, and cadmium, so if not recycled properly, used solar panels can cause more harm to the environment than many other devices that are cheaper to recycle.
Well, let’s imagine that there is money for recycling, but another problem arises – it is economically unprofitable: materials are obtained from the panel for $ 2-4, and the process itself, according to the American National Renewable Energy Laboratory, costs $ 20-30.
Source: Ferra
