The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
EuropeSolarSupply Chains & ConsumptionUnited States
Home›Jurisdictions›Europe›De-Manufacturing, Recycling Emerge as New Challenge for Aging Solar Modules

De-Manufacturing, Recycling Emerge as New Challenge for Aging Solar Modules

April 29, 2018
April 29, 2018
 
49
0
Share:
  •  
  • 6
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    6
    Shares
  Print This Story
theregeneration/Flickr

With the first wave of solar power systems up for retirement within the next 10 years, and the International Renewable Energy Agency predicting continued exponential growth through 2050, the need to figure out how to “de-manufacture” complex component parts is growing, as well.

“The industry standard lifespan [for a solar panel] is about 25 to 30 years,” Ensia reports. So beginning around 2020, and for each year thereafter, “more and more will be pulled from service—glass and metal photovoltaic modules that will soon start adding up to millions, then tens of millions of tonnes of material.”

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

“We’re going to have a waste management issue,” said Garvin Heath, senior scientist at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

And recycling will be no easy feat: “The longevity of these panels, the way they’re put together and how they make them make it inherently difficult to, to use a term, de-manufacture,” said Mark Robards, a director for ECS Refining, one of the largest U.S. electronics recyclers.

On one hand, notes Ensia, some of the materials that go into a solar panel are hazardous (like cadmium). On the other, “75% of the material that gets separated out is glass, which is easy to recycle into new products but also has a very low resale value.”

With a view to encouraging the market for recycling end-of-life solar modules before they begin to pile up, “the solar industry is creating programs to train commercial recycling companies to understand what’s in manufacturers’ products and how to break them down,” said Evelyn Butler of the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association.

But dealing responsibly with the rising tide of defunct PV parts will also require government standards and regulation, Ensia notes, despite the current lack of federal legislative oversight in the U.S. At the state level, regulations to date have been spotty: while Washington State, “not one of the largest solar-dependent states”, took the initiative last year to pass legislation “requiring manufacturers to finance the recovery and recycling of panels sold in the state,” solar leader California is “still likely years away” from enforcing a complete chain of custody. Washington’s regulation won’t likely be fully implemented until 2021.

The European Union’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, by contrast, “requires producers to finance end-of-life treatment of solar panels sold in Europe,” Ensia notes.

Share:
  •  
  • 6
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    6
    Shares
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
EuropeSolarSupply Chains & ConsumptionUnited States

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • EXCLUSIVE: Blaming Campaigners for Rising Premiums Masks Trans Mountain’s Shoddy Safety Record, Ex-Insurance Exec Says
      EXCLUSIVE: Blaming Campaigners for Rising Premiums Masks Trans Mountain’s Shoddy Safety Record, Ex-Insurance Exec Says
      March 12, 2021
    • Time to Invest Now as Governments Devote Just 18% of COVID Spending to Green Recovery
      Time to Invest Now as Governments Devote Just 18% of COVID Spending to Green Recovery
      March 12, 2021
    • Toronto City Council Calls for Ontario Gas Phaseout
      Toronto City Council Calls for Ontario Gas Phaseout
      March 12, 2021
    • Brookfield to Supply Hydro-Generated Electricity for U.S. Green Hydrogen Plant
      Brookfield to Supply Hydro-Generated Electricity for U.S. Green Hydrogen Plant
      March 12, 2021
    • A Decade After Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Cleanup ‘Has Barely Begun’ [Sign-on]
      A Decade After Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Cleanup ‘Has Barely Begun’ [Sign-on]
      March 12, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Republican Senators Delay Haaland Confirmation in Fossil Power Play
      March 11, 2021
    • Alberta Health Whistleblower Dr. John O’Connor Wins Free Expression Award
      March 11, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Lost Financing Prompts Bangladesh to Cancel Nine Coal Plants
      March 11, 2021
    • Renewables Supply 88% of Portugal’s Electricity in February
      March 11, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Alberta Health Whistleblower Dr. John O’Connor Wins Free Expression Award
      March 11, 2021
    • Calgary Tech Company Expands, Creates 500 Jobs
      March 11, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Republican Senators Delay Haaland Confirmation in Fossil Power Play
      March 11, 2021
    • Mississippi Regulator Forces Power Company to Shut Unneeded Coal, Gas Plants
      March 11, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • Kerala State, India Installs Solar to Turn 75,000 Homes into ‘Mini-Power Stations’
      March 11, 2021
    • Wind Moves Ahead in France as Gas Demand Lags
      March 11, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.