Wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars offer hope for a complete transition to alternative energy sources. Meanwhile, their decommissioned remains are disposed of in landfills in an environmentally unfriendly way. In this article, let’s try to figure out whether green energy is as clean as it is commonly thought.
Problem #1: Disposal of Blades from Wind Turbines
Unfortunately, for the disposal of wind turbine blades. Officially, the blades are buried in the ground to until new recycling methods are developed.
At the same time, the service life of wind turbines is 20–25 years, and the issue of recycling first-generation wind turbines is already extremely acute. There are no issues with metal, concrete, and structural components, as they can be recycled. But how to dispose of the blades is not entirely clear yet. They consist mainly of fiberglass and polymers, which make the material durable, but ithat make recycling them almost impossible.
However, such green energy does not provide for the environmentally friendly disposal and recycling of huge amounts of waste, or are there still environmentally friendly solutions?
What about Its Recycling?
Researchers from the University of Michigan in the USA have created a recyclable wind turbine blade. It consists of a composite resin made of fiberglass and polymers of plant and synthetic origin. When the turbine’s service life is over, the blade can be completely recycled into a new one, or processed into materials used in. The composite resin is dissolved in an alkaline solution to obtain potassium lactate, which, after purification, can be used in the production of sweets and sports drinks. So far, the development is only undergoing checks and tests, but it is through such experiments that wind energy can become even greener.
However, after such bold decisions, a new problem may arise — the high incidence of previously unexplored diseases among humans.
Problem #2: Toxic Solar Panels
Did you know that about 90% of defective and decommissioned end up in regular landfills, as it is much cheaper than recycling. Typically, solar panels are made of glass and contain small amounts of silicon, which converts sunlight into electricity, as well as silver, copper, and toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and selenium. Batteries can only be transported along pre-agreed routes and disposed of in a special way.
Since solar panels are fragile and bulky, trained workers are required to properly detach, transport and dispose of them. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the solar battery may break down and cause environmental contamination.
Unprofitable Recycling
Recycling solar panels is not the most profitable business. It is possible to obtain $2–4 worth of materials from each panel, despite the fact that the recycling process, according to estimates by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, costs $20–30.
Nevertheless, there are those who want to influence the problem. At the end of June 2023, the ROSI company, which specializes in recycling solar energy waste, opened in France. The company extracts and reuses 99% of the solar battery components. The new factory can recover almost all the precious materials contained in the panels, which are particularly difficult to remove from the installation, and use them for the reuse of batteries.
Problem #3: Toxic Lithium Battery production
In addition, the toxic production of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in most electric vehicles, is another significant problem. Cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements are extracted. During the extraction of cobalt and other metals, byproducts are produced that pollute the environment. 70% of the world’s cobalt reserves are mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a significant portion located in unregulated artisanal mines where workers, including children, extract the metal using only hand tools. They put their health at great risk.
To remedy the situation, manufacturers need to think about how to make the extraction of raw materials more environmentally friendly and how to improve the working conditions of miners in mines.
Disposal of Battery Packs
There are no less problems with the disposal of battery packs. The average battery of an electric vehicle traveling 20,000 km per year can last from ten to 20 years. Dumping batteries in landfills is a direct threat to the environment, and 95–96% of the contents in batteries are recyclable materials that can be reused in production.
– But why is it not so easy to dispose of them?
Currently, recycling technologies based on shredding of battery cells are used in the world. However, this process is quite energy-intensive, and the quality of the recovered raw materials is low. To increase recycling efficiency, it is necessary to dismantle the batteries into separate modules. And here lies the main problem — the lack of standardization of structures.
According to international standards, each element must be recycled, but current batteries for electric vehicles are created by manufacturers in configurations of varying technical and chemical complexity. They are not optimized for easy disassembly, either manually or automatically. Therefore, in the near future, it will be necessary to create a single standard or labeling that will simplify and robotize the battery recycling process — this will increase its economic efficiency.
Against this background, less obvious but important steps towards reducing e-waste are attracting more and more attention. One of these solutions was the introduction of eSIM technology, built-in digital SIM cards that make it possible to eliminate the use of physical plastic cards.
Unlike traditional SIM cards, the use of virtual phone numbers from eSIM Plus solutions does not require packaging and physical delivery, which reduces the use of plastic and reduces the carbon footprint. With billions of SIM cards being produced every year, even such a small transition can significantly reduce waste in the telecom industry.
Conclusion
As a result, “green” technologies cannot be considered completely clean — they only transfer some of the environmental problems to other stages, such as production and disposal. Nevertheless, this is not a reason to abandon renewable energy, but rather a signal of the need to refine it.
The future of sustainable energy depends on how efficiently humanity can recycle, reduce the harm of resource extraction, and make technology truly circular. Only in this case, “green” energy will be able to live up to its name.
