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bicubic | 6 years ago

> Having read your link 2 and 3, I see they also don't support the point you are making (the first describes how to recycle turbine blades into concrete and is looking for more applications, the second says solar panels are 90% recyclable

The 90% recyclable figure refers to the materials that can be used in low grade applications. The remaining 10% are the rare earth minerals that actually make the panel work and need to be mined.

You’re not talking about recycling, you’re talking about downcycling to a nearly worthless product. It will be cheaper just to send the old panels to landfill. How are these power sources renewable if they are only possible if we keep mining our dwindling natural resources?

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jhgb|6 years ago

> The 90% recyclable figure refers to the materials that can be used in low grade applications.

[1] says that "[the waste components] are crushed into granulates that can used to make new panels". Are new panels a "low grade application"?

> The remaining 10% are the rare earth minerals that actually make the panel work and need to be mined.

Excuse me, but what "rare earth minerals" are you talking about? There are none in solar panels, much less 10% of them. (That would be 2 kg per average panel, mind you!)

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-solar-recycling/europes-f...