The Toxic Pandora’s Box of Solar Panels?
Canada Free Press,
by
Dr
&
Ileana Johnson Paugh
Original Article
Posted By: Cavallodifiero,
11/29/2019 9:04:50 AM
A neighbor down the street proudly placed solar panels on his house. He spent $4,000 after government subsidies and whatever deductions he may have taken from his income tax. He is confident that this move will save him tons of money on electricity and will safeguard the planet from global warming Armageddon by reducing his carbon footprint from fossil fuels.
There is one fly in this perfect ointment—solar panels generate “tons of toxic waste” during the production process and during their disposal/replacement.
The solar energy advocates, who only see cheap electricity with rose-colored glasses, are
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 11/29/2019 9:30:43 AM (No. 248378)
There's nothing more efficient than Natural Gas fired electric generation and then comes Nuclear. While the oversight of nuclear results in cost adds the benefit is long term power generation. Even the French recognize the benefits and teach children in public school with this truth. We could now build closed cycle Sodium mini-nukes that could supply all the electricity needs of a small community and would be buried in a concrete vault 20 feet underground to keep the "Earth First!" evil ones away.
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/78726-mini-nuclear-power-plants/
The fact is that a Solar Cell only yields a theoretical maximum of 35% conversion efficiency from light to electricity. Then comes the inefficiency of converting DC stored in batteries to AC for sending over the power grid. And, as homeowners in California found out when the idiot Governor shut off their electricity, they can't use what's being produced by their own solar panels for their own homes!
If it weren't for the government intervention in this market, there would be no such product growth, but free IRS cheese is too tempting for most, no matter how hideous they loo, and the get damaged easily by weather. This reminds me of the Feds outlawing tungsten filament light bulbs in order to sell GE's Chinese made swirly fluorescent bulbs (keep in mind that LEDs came about without Fed intervention!).
17 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
hershey 11/29/2019 9:36:48 AM (No. 248388)
The law of unintended consequences...I have a friend who attempted to get panels, but the company wouldn't put them in because his 'income wasn't high enough'....I know, sounds kinda wierd doesn't it????
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
chase9365 11/29/2019 9:42:34 AM (No. 248393)
Why is it that we only get the straight story from the Canadian Free Press when it comes to environmental issues?
13 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 11/29/2019 10:17:34 AM (No. 248438)
I'll admit that the small arrays are useful for making RV camping somewhat comfortable, there is no useful purpose for these eyesores covering thousands of acres of land. The vast majority of these panels are made in China . You know , the same people who import their pollutants from thousands of coal-fired generators. Don't worry about those prevailing westerly winds.
9 people like this.
And no one ever talks about the fire hazard of having live electric panels on your roof which cannot be switched off while trying to fight a fire. Read about the state of the art meat pkg plant in NJ that burnt to the ground because they could not get onto the roof to fight it.
10 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
mc squared 11/29/2019 10:34:42 AM (No. 248457)
Can people charge their Teslas from the home solar panels if PG&E shuts off the power in California on windy days?
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
earlybird 11/29/2019 10:41:26 AM (No. 248464)
I read a real estate article that said they reduced the market price of one’s home. Many buyers do not want them.
10 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
HotRod 11/29/2019 10:41:59 AM (No. 248466)
Solar panels to heat water are much simpler, cheaper to manufacture, and require far less maintenance. No complex chemicals, no complicated electronics- just a small pump, and simple plumbing. They augment the hot water heater, which is an energy hog. They produce hot water on even cloudy days, and are viable most of the year, except for the frozen months in northern latitudes.
The problem with them is that they don't fit the green narrative, even though they save a lot of energy and are much more environmentally friendly. If it doesn't fit the narrative, it isn't useful to them.
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 11/29/2019 11:04:43 AM (No. 248488)
Excellent post #8. Another design that probably makes sense is incorporating tubing in concrete floors on new construction. A friend installed two inline industrial sized water heaters when he built his new home . Even the best water heater is an energy guzzler if left to its own devices -so you can reduce that by using its excess to supplement the heating of your box of air.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 11/29/2019 11:10:42 AM (No. 248495)
Now the greenies are ramping up to destroy the natural gas usage by citizens and businesses. Liberals come up with all these grandiose plans which turn out to be nothing more than wormy apples in disguise. Plastic bags instead of paper, curly fries lightbulbs containing mercury instead of the old school bulbs just for starters. They care not for efficiency, facts relating to the obtaining of fossil fuels or natural gas. Greenies prevent the building of new electric power plants while they push the public to use electric cars. Where is all that power going to come from?
Now we have the solar panels scam being seriously exposed for the scam it is. Solar panels also fry birds in mid flight as well. The solar powered wind mills are another boondoggle as well. They have killed countless eagles and other birds in mid flight as well as looking terrible on the landscape. Greenies have no clue about anything in life or how it works, just that they feel the need to control everyone else, even to the point of poisoning the planet.
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 11/29/2019 11:19:16 AM (No. 248500)
I would have to be totally in love to offer to buy a house with solar panels, and I would make removal and roof repair a condition of the sale. If they're desperate enough to sell, they'll agree. If the owners wouldn't agree, I'd walk. No house is that great.
8 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
helibobber 11/29/2019 11:20:42 AM (No. 248502)
I just can't see how a bunch of solar panels are going to heat my home in the dead of winter. I live in the snow belt of western New York and use natural gas for heating. I wish someone would ask AOC, Bernie and others how they will keep my family from freezing to death with solar panels.
6 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 11/29/2019 2:05:34 PM (No. 248627)
I have a small, remote cabin in the mountains of Colorado, where mains power wasn't available when it was built 25 years ago. It is powered by a small solar array, about 25 square feet which charge up large batteries and power an inverter to make normal 110Volt AC power for the lights and wall outlets. ALL load that can be off loaded to propane are -including the refrigerator.
For small loads like lights and pumping water from a shallow cistern, this is fine. For what is considered
"normal home use" these days, much, much more in the way of batteries and panels would be needed.
It makes NO sense if mains power is available, none. Only reasonable in remote areas, and in my case more affordable because I designed the system, selected the components and installed and wired it all myself. If one had paid to have this done, the costs would have been much higher.
I use solar power but do NOT recommend it for most people.
I agree totally with #1's comments.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
NYbob 11/29/2019 3:43:38 PM (No. 248669)
#6 you need a fair sized garage roof of solar panels and more importantly a big battery to store a day's worth of solar cell electricity. It will take about 8 hours of charging to get the car's batteries charged. Most do it overnight off the coal fired grid, but if you can afford it and have the time it is possible. Less so in the winter or when it is raining.
Meanwhile the HIGHLY toxic chemicals used in the production of the solar cells and incorporated into them have to ultimately go back into the environment. Either these toxic chemicals are converted into less toxic compounds or they end up in your groundwater, or in your air if that neighbor's solar array catches fire.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 11/29/2019 3:56:48 PM (No. 248673)
No. 8 is correct. I had a friend who rigged up a solar panel to heat his swimming pool. Just one panel and it would get the pool so hot he would have to disconnect it. He wasn't even an engineer, just clever at fixing stuff. This was over thirty years ago. I also have a small lake house with a fish feeder that has a small solar panel that keeps the battery charged. My dock has no power so this is extremely useful. Solar is great for small applications but supplying the gigawatts needed for larger applications is so far not a success. Just the opposite. Look at the billions in subsidies and debacles like Solyndra. A giant waste of taxpayer money. I think technology will one day advance us to cheap and environmentally friendly power but that's some time in the future.
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 11/29/2019 10:53:24 PM (No. 248855)
Link worked find for me the first time, and I just tried it again to see, still working fine.
0 people like this.
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