Landfill is becoming the default graveyard for the fading renewable-energy green dream.
Millions of solar panels are already hitting their end-of-life cycle, and the world is completely unprepared for the toxic avalanche due in 2030. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency says it will get much worse, with more than 200 million tonnes of cumulative solar panel waste globally. Plus, there will be additional tens of millions of tonnes of decommissioned wind turbine components. Turbine blades are virtually indestructible.
The industry has claimed solar panels and turbines were ‘95% recyclable’. Technically, they are—because they are made of glass, aluminium, and copper. But the reality is a different story. In the US, it costs roughly $20 to $30 to properly disassemble and recycle a single panel, compared to just $1 to $5 to dump it in a landfill.
Because there is little financial incentive to disassemble and recycle parts, around 90% of decommissioned panels in the US and a large share of turbine blades worldwide go straight into the ground.
These devices are highly complex. A solar panel is an industrial ‘sandwich’ bound tightly by heavy polymers. Extracting the microscopic amounts of valuable silver and high-purity silicon requires energy-intensive chemical and thermal processing.
When crushed or left to fracture in landfills, heavy metals like lead and cadmium leach into surrounding soil and groundwater, turning ‘clean energy’ into a multi-generational hazardous waste problem.
The crisis is accelerating faster than models ever predicted. As solar cells degrade and newer, cheaper panels hit the market, consumers and solar farms are ripping out functional systems a decade early to repower and upgrade.
The dream of renewable energy from sunlight and wind has, in reality, created an endless loop of unrecyclable industrial trash.
Every American, regardless of race, color, creed, ethnicity, state, political party or church, should watch this clip and watch it all.
We have been warned!
There’s a growing trend in Poland where some Ukrainian refugees deliberately provoke or harass Poles on the streets, then film their reactions in order to portray the very people who welcomed them as villains.
Many of these videos are posted by Ukrainian men who were too cowardly to fight for their own country, yet now play tough warriors from the safety and comfort of peaceful Poland.
The comments under these videos are often flooded with Ukrainians posting images of Bandera as a hero, with some even using his name, despite his association with Neo-Nazi movement whose factions were involved in the killing of thousands of Poles during World War II. Others openly express hostility or disdain toward Poles and Poland.