A Clean Energy’s Dirty Little Secret

[Marlin]

A Clean Energy's Dirty Little Secret

Clean energy may not be so clean after all. A new study by Environmental Progress (EP) warns that toxic waste from used solar panels now poses a global environmental threat. The Berkeley-based group found that solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants. Discarded solar panels, which contain dangerous elements such as lead, chromium, and cadmium, are piling up around the world, and there's been little done to mitigate their potential danger to the environment. "We talk a lot about the dangers of nuclear waste, but that waste is carefully monitored, regulated, and disposed of," says Michael Shellenberger, founder of Environmental Progress, a nonprofit that advocates for the use of nuclear energy. "But we had no idea there would be so many panels — an enormous amount — that could cause this much ecological damage."

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449026/solar-panel-waste-environmental-threat-clean-energy?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=kelly&utm_content=clean-energy

[Chimera]

Yes . . . that dirty little secret wherein the "clean" and/or "green" solutions never take into account the manufacturing and disposal costs and impacts on the environment.  When all things are factored in, an H-3 is more environmentally friendly vehicle than a Prius.

[bsdnuke]

No free lunch.

[GLW]

No free lunch.

No free lunch.

bingo,...

[SloGlo]

eye tryed two take broken l.e.d. outdoor lites to a county refuse collection center this weekend. their not recyclable (naught even as electronic material), knot allowed inn bulk trash, and kant bee bagged aze household garbage. the controller finally took them and put them inn his box fore fluorescent bulbs.