Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
-
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:31 am
Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshe ... 76cdab121c
A few months of rainwater can rinse the carcinogenic Cadmium out of your rooftop PV panels and into your lawn, garden, groundwater.
Also, there's no known economical way to recycle panels. So there's another post-peak-oil, finite resource, energy crisis on the distant horizon.
Our species was really spoiled with this whole electricity thing for a few centuries.
A few months of rainwater can rinse the carcinogenic Cadmium out of your rooftop PV panels and into your lawn, garden, groundwater.
Also, there's no known economical way to recycle panels. So there's another post-peak-oil, finite resource, energy crisis on the distant horizon.
Our species was really spoiled with this whole electricity thing for a few centuries.
-
- Posts: 952
- Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:05 pm
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
Luckily fusion is on the near horizon, only 30 more years!
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
Well, I guess all the bad chemicals leaked out of my solar panels a couple years ago and now they are good and clean.... Right??
-
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:20 am
- Location: Earth
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
Clean as a whistle!
-
- Posts: 54
- Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2018 12:19 pm
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
It says lead and cadmium can be washed out of the fragments of solar modules. So only if your panels got trashed by a major storm or something. And all it says is 'carcinogenic'. Coffee is carcinogenic. Without any info about exposure levels or the genotoxicity of cadmium, it's pretty irresponsible to claim solar panels can give you cancer- the waste problem is real, but there's no need to be alarmist.
-
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:31 am
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
Where can I find the rest of that set? Was it recorded?
Derailed already...
-
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:31 am
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
@fell-like-rain
True. But if you live in a sunny, hurricane-prone area, you will likely end up with broken panels at some point.
True. But if you live in a sunny, hurricane-prone area, you will likely end up with broken panels at some point.
Re: Solar PV Panels Unsustainable & Can Cause Cancer
This is a big misunderstanding. As fell-like-rain says the toxic elements would be contained within the panels unless destroyed. They are not washing onto our lawns and gardens.
Even if they're unsustainable, surely they can help us transition as a more appealing alternative to a fast crash Mad Max scenario. They also have the whole small-scale and off-grid appeal, while wind turbines keep getting bigger with specialized tech and technicians required to make and maintain them - hard to keep a 500 ft turbine going if the system collapses vs. rooftop solar systems. Hopefully there will be a good recycling solution in the near future.
So your property is safe from contamination unless you or the Mother Nature break apart your solar panels.Solar panels often contain lead, cadmium, and other toxic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel.
Even if they're unsustainable, surely they can help us transition as a more appealing alternative to a fast crash Mad Max scenario. They also have the whole small-scale and off-grid appeal, while wind turbines keep getting bigger with specialized tech and technicians required to make and maintain them - hard to keep a 500 ft turbine going if the system collapses vs. rooftop solar systems. Hopefully there will be a good recycling solution in the near future.