Demand for sustainable energy methods, especially solar panels, has been on the rise in recent years as awareness of the depletion and impact of fossil fuels grows. However, these panels are posing a new challenge of their own- finding what to do with the first generation of solar panels that are now reaching the end of their lifespan. Solar panels are costly to produce, due to their use of depleting materials such as Gallium and Indium. Additionally, panels tend to have a lifespan of only 30 years, and can be a dangerous addition to landfills. Our research aims to answer the question, “is there a way to make the solar panel industry more sustainable by maximizing the use of materials from ‘dying’ panels?”. Methods included using Miami University Library resources, finding visual representations of data that described environmental benefits, efficacy of proposed recycling methods, and the potential costs. Additional topics searched were the environmental impacts of current panel waste disposal, and cost of building panels from newly mined materials in order to compare to recycled panels. Our findings showed that there is a lowered risk of environmental and health hazard exposure when panels are recycled, in comparison to landfill disposal. The most notable risk that occurs when panels are sent to landfills is lead exposure in the soils and groundwater, posing a danger for local wildlife and communities. Additionally, our findings showed that current proposed methods show promising results in material recovery, especially with aluminum and glass. While there are currently high costs associated with the transportation and recycling of solar panels, these methods should be further developed in order to find the most efficient and cost effective manner to reduce panel waste.
Presenter(s): Lina Miesse, Environmental Earth Science Major
Ronald Henkel, Biology Major
Sofia do Valle Pereira Esteves, Biomedical Engineering
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