A bicycle traveler charges his laptop with a folding solar panel, a technology that is becoming more common in a market driven by portable consumer electronics. (Photo: docentjoyce/FLICKR)
WASHINGTON — While there is no standard procedure in the U.S. for recycling solar technologies of any size, the increasing market for small consumer devices is bringing the issue to light.
With dimensions comparable to a trail map, folding solar panels that recharge electronics like GPS units and cellular phones are on track to become regular fixtures in glove compartments and backpacks. Although even compact solar cells can supply years of power to gadget-loving travelers, the lightweight casing that encloses sensitive materials like indium and cadmium won’t last forever.
Solar panels have proven longevity – many installed on rooftops in the 1970s are still up and running – but because of the streamlined design that makes portable solar cells desirable in a marketplace full of handheld devices, small panels have shorter life spans.
At a green-technology showcase in Washington, Neil Washburn, a researcher at Dupont Corp., explained that the plastic film the company produces to package small solar cells can begin to deteriorate after about a year if exposed to the elements. “The plastic lets moisture go through, and it attacks the active materials.”
Dupont sells the casing to solar companies like Global Solar Energy Inc., which manufactures everything from small folding devices to large commercial panels. The company has a 15-year warranty on its Sunlinq folding solar panel, but offers no guidance on disposal or recycling. Washburn said he imagines devices are thrown away when they begin to break down, but added, “There are elements in here people should think about recycling,” pointing out that materials like indium are globally rare.
As large-scale solar power systems installed 20 to 30 years ago begin to break down, concerns about recycling have gained attention in the global solar industry. Vasilis Fthenakis of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York explained that because solar power is more widely used abroad, 80 to 85 percent of solar companies that sell products in Europe are committed to recycling “the big ones”.
While an effort is under way to establish a similar program in the United States, the initiative is not yet widespread, and does not include consumer devices.
Sheila Davis, director of Silicon Valley Toxics Association, said her organization has been looking to Europe for examples in its campaign to make the U.S. solar industry more sustainable.
Davis said European countries are more aggressive about recycling overall. For example, all electronics manufacturers are required to take back old computers. Concerned that they too would have to take back products that had expired, solar companies have been looking for ways to reuse materials.
First Solar Inc., an American company that operates in Germany, manufactures solar cells that contain cadmium telluride, an element is categorized as hazardous in most countries.
“First Solar recognized that they had to have some type of life cycle, a closed loop scheme, to keep this material out of the waste stream,” she said. Now for every panel it sells, the company puts aside money for recycling.
With increasing incentives for renewable energy coming out of the climate change debate, companies are focused on getting as many products to market as possible, and not necessarily thinking about the end of the line.
Large-scale solar panels have traditionally dominated the industry, but that may be changing. “If companies can cost-effectively produce small, efficient panels, they will,” Davis said.
For consumers who are interested in renewable energy, but not ready for a home renovation project, pocket-sized solar panels have a practical appeal. Mike McCarty, a product manager at Recreation Equipment Inc., said the company has seen an 18 percent increase in sales of solar chargers from 2008, and that more and more products have been appearing in the market.
Solar chargers have also become more convenient and affordable over the past couple years.
“The market place is now full of smaller solar chargers that address the mobile electronics and GPS world at retails of $50 to $100,” said McCarty, pointing out that two or three years ago, “portable” panels were significantly larger and ranged from $100 to $500.
Although the life cycle of these products will be much shorter by design, Davis said the disposal issue for consumer devices “is not on anybody’s radar yet.” She said as the market grows, it means a significant waste stream in the future.
Until proper disposal and reuse is addressed on a policy level, reform will have to come from within the industry. With the influx of short-lived products, the issue will start to resurface before long, and consumers could be influential players.
Asked what people should do with products when they break down, Davis suggested, “They can try to take them back to REI.” When enough products start turning over, she said retailers with environmentally conscious customers will likely put pressure on manufacturers to consider recycling.