Dark Side To Solar? More Reports Tie Panel Production To Toxic Pollution – Energy Hypocrisy is real and is on top of the list of hostile opposing forces to humanity worldwide
ENB Publishers Note: This is an excellent article from Michael Shellenberger on the one side of solar hypocrisy not talked about. Child abuse, a horrible environmental impact, and financial poverty are all overlooked in the name of “Green.” “Energy Hypocrisy is real and is on top of the list of hostile opposing forces to humanity worldwide.” – Stu Turley
Source: Forbes: Michael Shellenberger
Three years ago I published a column at Forbes arguing that solar panels weren’t clean but in fact produced 300 times more toxic waste than high-level nuclear waste. But in contrast to nuclear waste, which is safely stored and never hurts anyone, solar panel waste risks exposing poor trash-pickers in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason was because it was so much cheaper to make new solar panels from raw materials than to recycle them, and would remain that way, given labor and energy costs.
My reporting was near-universally denounced. The most influential financial analyst of the solar industry called my article, “a fine example of ‘prove RE [renewable energy] is terrible by linking lots of reports which don’t actually support your point but do show that the RE industry in the West considers and documents its limited impacts extremely thoroughly.’” An energy analyst who is both pro-nuclear and pro-solar analyst agreed with her, saying “I looked into this waste issue in the past and concur with [her].”
The GuardianUG-0.5%said solar panel waste was a “somewhat ironic concern from [me], a proponent of nuclear power, which has a rather bigger toxic waste problem” adding that “broken panels… are relatively rare except perhaps in the wake of a natural disaster like a hurricane or earthquake.”
But when reporters eventually looked into the issue they came to the same conclusions I had. In 2019, The New York TimesNYT+2.5% published a long article about toxic old solar panels and batteries causing “harm to people who scavenge recyclable materials by hand” in poor African communities. In 2020, DiscoverDISCA0.0% magazineconfirmed that “it is often cheaper to discard them in landfills or send them to developing countries. As solar panels sit in dumps, the toxic metals they contain can leach out into the environment and possibly pose a public health hazard if they get into the groundwater supply.”
Still, each of those articles stressed that some solar panels were already being recycled, and that more of them one day would be, which was what many of my original critics had pointed out. “The European Union requires solar companies to collect and recycle their panels,” notedDiscover, “with the cost of recycling built into the selling price.” The solar analyst who accused me of making unsubstantiated claims said the reason “there are few solar panels being recycled to date [is] because most of them are still working fine.”
But a major new study of the economics of solar, published in Harvard Business Review (HBR), finds that the waste produced by solar panels will make electricity from solar panels four times more expensive than the world’s leading energy analysts thought. “The economics of solar,” write Atalay Atasu and Luk N. Van Wassenhove of Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires, one of Europe’s leading business schools, and Serasu Duranof the University of Calgary, will “darken quickly as the industry sinks under the weight of its own trash.”
The U.S. and EU have levied massive sanctions against Russia. Moscow has managed to stay one step ahead of the West with the help of Indian and Chinese refiners and tankers. As long as India […]
Copper hit a three-month high as it headed for its biggest monthly advance since January, supported by growing optimism over Chinese demand and mounting supply risks in Chile On the demand side, Beijing’s leadership has […]
Iran is preparing to hike its oil exports to “maximum capacity” in the coming months, according to two Iranian oil sources. The move comes amid indications that negotiations between Washington and Iran in Vienna could […]
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoPrivacy policy