I get that solar POWER is infinite and clean, but the panels used to harvest it are anything but that, aren’t they? Aren’t solar panels just another way to pollute the earth because of their production and inevitable mass discarding?
Isn’t it the exact same problem for wind turbines? Won’t we eventually run out of material/resources to make those as well? Not to mention the noise pollution and the killing of avian life.
Could these alternative sources really be considered clean? If so, why?
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> I get that solar POWER is infinite and clean, but the panels used to harvest it are anything but that, aren’t they?
The production is not perfect, but less troublesome on the whole. Burning fossil fuels releases stuff into the air and affects the whole planet. Making solar panels makes localized pollution that can be managed and cleaned up, and that can be reduced as the use of fossil fuels needed for making them is reduced
> Aren’t solar panels just another way to pollute the earth because of their production and inevitable mass discarding?
No. Why would a pile of broken solar panels be a big problem? It’s just junk sitting somewhere. So long the dump is well managed, it’s just ugly. If we accumulate a huge amount of them it’ll eventually become worthwhile to recycle them.
Solar panels also have a very long life — sure, they degrade over time, but for many uses, a panel that still does something is better than nothing. It can get a second life in a less demanding application.
> Isn’t it the exact same problem for wind turbines? Won’t we eventually run out of material/resources to make those as well?
Wind turbines aren’t made of anything unusual, and if we run out of materials to make those we have big, big problems because we can’t make most anything else either.
> Not to mention the noise pollution and the killing of avian life.
Well, nothing is ever going to be perfect. We’re going to kill something no matter what, the question is what, how, and how much.
> Could these alternative sources really be considered clean? If so, why?
Everything is relative. My hands are clean, but certainly not enough for surgery.
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