Quote:
Originally Posted by XCR-700
Again, if he is paying nothing for power, he should be setting money aside from the savings for the future when the panels will need to be replaced and properly disposed of/recycled, or risk getting hit with a big bill he never dreamed of,,,
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Big bill? Solar panels are mostly silicon, there isn't a big recycle demand because they last a long time. Most lose somewhere between 0.5 and 1 percent efficiency per year. So they don't stop working unless something happens to them to cause them to fail. At some point they may not produce enough power to meet the needs of whomever is using them. But the thing is there are ways to mitigate this. 5kw of panels may become less useful to someone who needs all that power, but there are people who would love to have panels that produce say 3 kw of power. So there is a market for these less than ideal panels.
The other thing is people with a bone to pick, insist that things like solar panels must be recycled. I'm fine with recycling them, I'm ok with throwing them in a hole and covering them up too. As far as things that make it to landfills, solar panels are very low on the danger list IMO.
Also I don't know what this "huge bill he never dreamed of " sounds pretty alarmist to me. This place will come to your house and carry your panel away starting an $89 per panel. Hardly outrageous.
https://goloadup.com/what-we-take/ap.../solar-panels/
As far as my son goes, his panels were free, paid for by the previous owner of his house. It's a total win for him and he is reaping the benefits that the owner and indirectly you and I paid for. Good for him.