Introduction

    Solar panels are considered to be an eco-friendly option to reduce your coal consumption. Fossil fuels are dominating the world (as they have been for years) and are causing severe environmental disasters. Solar panels are a considerable investment considering the average price to install comes to around $16,000. However, solar panels help in the long run as power bills can be severely reduced. While it is nice to have reduced bills, solar panels will cause a huge environmental disaster in the near future.

Downside

     Solar panels are thought to be ever-lasting sources of energy. However, just like other products, they have a limited lifespan. Solar panels have a life span of around 25 years. Experts have predicted that billions of solar panels have been installed in the past 25 years. Solar panels started being installed in the masses in the early 2000s. With the billions of solar panels installed around the world, this will cause a huge waste build-up in the next few years. 

The Solution

     Experts have a program to recycle important materials from solar panels to reduce waste. Scientists in France have set up the first-ever solar panel dedicated recycling plant. The materials such as silver and copper are the hardest the extract and obtain but with recycled solar panels, up to 99% of the panel can be recycled. This will eliminate the waste we produce as a society and help the environment. The little steps towards recycling our solar panels will help the world in the long run.