A popular myth circulates every now and again claiming the rapid global uptake of solar generation will lead to mountains of waste. Is that really the case?
➡️ A 20 kg solar panel can easily generate 10 MWh over its lifetime. That's 2 kg of solid waste per MWh generated.
➡️ Coal, on the other hand, generates a whopping ~90 kg of fly ash and bottom ash per MWh. Not to mention the ~950 kg of CO2 per MWh.
➡️ And what about gas? Sure, there's no solid waste like there is with coal, but there is around 450 kg of CO2 per MWh, not to mention the upstream methane leakage.
There's no comparison.
Then factor in that most solar panel waste - glass, aluminium, silicon - is highly recyclable and inert. Solar panel recycling infrastructure can scale to handle future volumes.
The same cannot be said of coal ash, which is a heady mix of arsenic, mercury and other toxins. We do not have a way to remove this from contaminated groundwater.
We also cannot suck CO2 out of the atmosphere fast enough to make a meaningful difference.
Let's be clear: the myth about mountains of waste from solar panels is fossil fuel industry propaganda. What is damaging the environment is the more than 100 billion tonnes of CO2 dumped into the atmosphere over 5 years from combustion of coal and gas.
The issue isn't waste from end of life solar panels, the issue is fossil fuel waste.
Let's focus on what really matters.
Image Source: Mirletz, H., Hieslmair, H., Ovaitt, S. et al. Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic module toxicity and waste are slowing decarbonization. Nat. Phys. 19, 1376–1378 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02230-0