Champagne Corks Fly as California Hits One Million Solar Installations
It took 13 years to happen, but happen it did. Back in 2006, then-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Million Solar Roofs Initiative into law, providing support for home-owners, schools and businesses to go solar. This Thursday, the former Governor and Jerry Brown celebrated the landmark achievement as one million homes and businesses are generating their own clean energy, powered by that big nuclear fusion reactor 93 million miles from Earth.
Craig,
I hate to rain on your parade, but you often sound like an old time preacher evangelizing, lacking any critical analysis.
The enthusiasm for solar will disappear if subsidies and market rigging ended. (as it will).
But my concern is for the environment. !,000,000 solar installations equals roughly 20,000,000 panels.
That’s 20,000,000 highly toxic, virtually impossible to safely dispose of obsolete panels about to hit the environment.
Worse still they will need to be replaced. With what ?
That’s approx 500,000 tons of highly toxic waste to try to safely dispose from California alone.
The cost will be horrendous. California has no viable recycling plants able to cope with this deluge, and China isn’t interested in taking back obsolete panels.
“Solar panels often contain lead, cadmium, and other toxic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel.
“Approximately 90% of most PV modules are made up of glass,” notes San Jose State environmental studies professor Dustin Mulvaney.
“However, this glass often cannot be recycled as float glass due to impurities. Common problematic impurities in glass include plastics, lead, cadmium and antimony.”
Microsoft proposed a 6,350 acre solar farm at Fawn Lake in Virginia to power a new data center. The Alliance of Concerned Citizens fought a court battle to force Microsoft to reveal the toxicity in the soil and water table after 10 years.
Rather than admit to the problem, Microsoft with its application to build.
Microsoft and the Solar power company refused to confirm of deny the horrendous toxicity dangers involved.
The ACC claimed leaching from broken panels damaged during natural events — hail storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc, and at decommissioning may be impossible to clean up and any attempt to would be either impossible or run into $ billions.
Microsoft refused to put up a bond guaranteeing decommissioning and other environmental concerns.
The Judge refused to accept Microsoft’s argument that in 20 years time a solution might be invented !
The champagne you drink today may prove a hangover for your children !