Renewable Energy Solutions - Solar Energy Blog

Billions of solar panels are on the verge of being phased out worldwide. If they are thrown away, then much of the basic material needed to make future panels is being wasted. It is estimated that by 2050, about 4 billion solar panels weighing a total of 78 million tons will be discarded. However, due to the design of the panels, it is not easy to get reusable materials from them, so it is likely that most of the panels will simply be shredded during the recycling process. But this will contaminate the material and make recycling more difficult. There is an urgent need around the world to design electronics that make it easy to extract the materials contained so that we can reuse them in new products and avoid waste. If we don't change the way we use materials, we will limit the next phase of renewable and environmentally friendly technology deployment in society, not help mitigate climate change, and lose the materials we need in them. The total value of discarded solar panels, if...