Recycling of PV panels article

[Countrypaul]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65602519

Not so sure about some of the "facts" included.

[openspaceman]

Yes there's a bit of difference between economic life and usable life, bit like EV batteries really. If I notice any significant deterioration in mine I shall add a string to make up rather than remove and replace.

Mind I have a solar pv cell calculator that still works after 40 years.

[Mr Gus]

most of the bbc comes from central london, the least environmentally connected in the country (as a whole) .why would they scrutinise their work beyond copy & paste of pre-existing media pieces? ..sad that.

I find it hilarious that the farming advisor for the archers is an ex radio 1 news & weather girl FFS

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/what- ... il-ruscoe/

Can you spot her farming credentials amongst this???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ruscoe

[AE-NMidlands]

When I read the article my reaction was "Why not just re-use them?
Granted, "industrial" users want the very best returns and thus are upgrading to higher-output panels, but these panels are presumably not much worse than when they were put in, and more to the point, they are available here and now and with no deep-sea shipping costs. Well, in France they are!
A

[Mart]

Yes there's a bit of difference between economic life and usable life, bit like EV batteries really. If I notice any significant deterioration in mine I shall add a string to make up rather than remove and replace.

Mind I have a solar pv cell calculator that still works after 40 years.

Same here. On my desk is my Casio fx-451, that got me through my O and A levels, bought nearly 40yrs ago. But I did notice that it takes a little longer to power up since the roll out of low energy lighting.


I thought the recycling %age potential looks really promising, and the article did suggest recycling has been low due to low demand, so far. That reminds me, that apparently a side effect of rolling out recycling facilities for BEV batteries, is that batts from consumer electronics will now see more recycling too.

[Mr Gus]

3rd world charities need to get in here.

To put it bluntly a mud-hut with 1000 watt hours & battery, life could change considerably, ditto a whole village.

Ok, so itmeans man hours, cheap, but thats what the 3rd world has plenty of, people scraping a living.
Workshop, training, match & repair panels, ..branch out from there

Or do the charities just want handouts? (charities)

E-wase reduction, employment, electricity, education, evolving society...

[Tinbum]

I read that this morning and just thought what a load of utter rubbish. Typical reporting.

Don't get me wrong, yes it's great to set up a recycling plant for them but as to PV panels only having a life of 25 years -wrong, and that's the basis of the article.

[AE-NMidlands]

I read that this morning and just thought what a load of utter rubbish. Typical reporting.

Don't get me wrong, yes it's great to set up a recycling plant for them but as to PV panels only having a life of 25 years -wrong, and that's the basis of the article.

Perhaps somebody from here with personal experience should write to the editor to refute it?
And as for third world charities, quite a few of those are now working in the UK, so send the lorry-loads here please!
"Cheap" panels would take out one of the costs of putting solar roofs on lots of social housing...
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[marshman]

Think it is a "non" story. Plenty of more pressing "end of life" recycling issues to worry about.

[Marcus]

I think my oldest panel is circa 2002 - but I'd have to look at the back to check.

This is a bit creepy - did we all have the same calculator?