Hello fellow solar enthusiasts and your dearly invested Solar Detective here! I’m back with key insights from the ever-evolving solar industry. Today we’ll shed some light on a pioneering initiative that very much concerns solar companies and clients. It pertains to recycling services attached to your solar array for home – a crucial concern as we all strive for a sustainable future with our beloved clean energy option.
Canadian Solar, one of the industry giants, recently made quite a remarkable move. They have paired up with Solarcycle to offer recycling services right at the time of purchase. This means, in addition to selling you your solar panels for your home, the same company also facilitates the recycling of those panels when they reach their end-of-life. Quite the holistic approach, isn’t it?
So, how does this impact the solar company’s customers? They now gain a hassle-free solution to a concern that could otherwise be a major headache – what to do with their old solar panels? Addressing this question of disposal upfront is a phenomenal step to ensure the solar industry’s sustainability from “cradle to cradle”, as coined by Suvi Sharma, the leading star of Solarcycle.
Why is this even a concern? Well, it’s simple. As the solar sector grows, the volume of worn-out solar panels is expected to rise dramatically — a whacking 10 million metric tons of trash by 2050, according to IRENA. This could seriously threaten the very sustainability that solar energy is believed to ensure.
In comes Solarcycle with its own proprietary technology, saving the day. They can extract up to 95% of the value from recycled panels boosting the market with high-purity materials like silver, silicon, copper, aluminum, and glass. Recycling centers run by this firm are set to pop up all over the United States in 2024 with a clear aim – to have a recycling center within 500 miles of 80% of the installed solar arrays for homes across the nation.
This is a win-win for all parties involved, which is the exact embodiment of the solar industry: securing the sun’s benefits for us while safeguarding our planet. Solar companies that further the recycling cause are not only offering a valuable service to their customers but setting a precedent for other industry participants as well. The trend of incorporating recycling services at the point of purchase for solar panels is definitely one to watch, and I, for one, am eager to see how this transforms the industry.
Stay tuned here at Solar Detective as we follow the sun and its stories. Until next time, keep harnessing the power of the sun, and remember, every time you look at your home solar array, you’re part of a movement that is not just lighting our homes, but protecting our world as well!
Original Articlehttps://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/09/03/canadian-solar-partners-with-solarcycle-to-keep-solar-panels-out-of-landfills/
