25 is the number of years that most crystalline silicon solar panel manufacturers warranty the power output of their panels. Afterwards although the panels can still technically generate power beyond this point, their power output begins to decrease significantly.

Image via Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

As the industry continues to grow over the coming decades, and today’s solar modules approach the end of their useful lives, we will find ourselves with a serious solar trash problem.

A new report from GlobalData delves into a hidden side of the solar industry that will emerge as a result of this problem over the next 15 years–solar module recycling. According to the firm’s report, end-of-life PV modules are expected to generate approximately 24,855 tons of waste in 2025. By 2035, the amount is expected to increase to 1,161,173 tons.

Image via Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

As one might expect, there are significant financial opportunities in this sector. In 2025, a PV module is expected to generate $0.58 per watt in recycled value, increasing to $1.21 per watt in 2035. The major factors driving this trend are the rise in solar panel installations from 2000 to 2010, an expected increase in recycling rates, and a rise in the market price of solar module materials, like glass and aluminum.
Overall, the total value of recycled crystalline modules is expected to increase from $122 million in 2025 to $12.9 billion by 2035.

The emergence of solar module recycling is just part of a growing market for electronic waste, or e-waste. A recent study by Pike Research found that the amount of total e-waste generated worldwide is expected to double to 1,465 million cubic feet by 2025. Today, the vast majority of e-waste that doesn’t go to the landfill ends up in developing countries, where it is processed with little consideration for human or environmental health.
One organization that is working to ensure that the solar industry does not go down the same road as the electronics industry when it comes to recycling is the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC). SVTC believes that solar manufacturers can ensure that PV is a truly sustainable energy resource by reducing the use of toxic chemicals in PV, developing responsible recycling systems, and protecting workers at every stage of the global PV supply chain.
The organization’s annual Solar Score Card ranks solar manufacturers according to standards of product recycling, worker health and safety, chemical use and life-cycle analysis and company disclosure statements. In 2011, the top-ranking manufacturers were SolarWorld, Trina Solar, First Solar, REC and Abound Solar.

Source: earthtechling.com. Article by Lauren Craig.

RECYCLE YOUR OLD SOLAR LIGHTS HERE – GET MONEY FOR YOUR NEXT PURCHASE!

One of the latest developments in urban design are rooftop gardens and landscaping walls.
Architects all over the world are proving that sustainable, urban agriculture can be economically valuable in the city.

Image from www.canpages.ca. Green Roof Garden.

Image from www.good.is.
Portland’s Vertical Garden on Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal building.

It is green roof gardens that allow bringing vegetation into cities in a big way. The concept is surprisingly as simple as growing various plants up the outer walls and on rooftops. Remember one of the captivating wonders of the ancient world – Babylon Gardens?

Modern architects use concept of “Semiramida Gardens” allowing buildings to reduce heat island effects and to use less energy, saving on annual energy costs.

In the past green roof gardens were attractive and practical, but not edible.
This was until someone with a creative spark decided to make green roofs twice as useful and productive and use rooftop gardens as a source of fresh produce. Now green roof gardens are tied to restaurant businesses. And what could be more ingenious? The food that is used in exquisite culinary creations in the kitchens below grows right on the rooftops of restaurants all over the world!

Let’s take a look at some of the restaurants that implement green roofing produce in their everyday menus…

Image by Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago – Uncommon Ground restaurant rooftop garden.

Uncommon Ground restaurant in Chicago has a 2,500 square-foot rooftop garden. The executive chef tells the Chicago Sun-Times: “We just used the peppers from the garden and stuffed them with chorizo. When things from the farm are ready, we’ll incorporate it however we can. I come up once a day to see what’s ripe and ready.”

Image by Bonnie Alter. Toronto – Fairmont Royal York green roof.

In Toronto, at the Fairmont Royal York, twelve apprentice chefs grow a vegetable and herbs garden, also keeping bees on their roofs.

Image by Blueberry Farmers T&F. Ginza, Tokyo – bees on the roofs.

In Ginza, Tokyo an NPO, Ginza Mitsubachi Project manages to keep some 150 thousand bees with 260kg of honey gained each year. The honey is used in sweets by a celebrated confectionery shop.

Image from www.treehugger.com. New York City – Hydroponic Farm.

New York City’s First Rooftop Hydroponic Farm has been installed and is expected to produce 30 tons of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs annually from its rooftop garden.

Image by NYBTA. The Science Barge.

Sun Works, the people who built the Science Barge – An Urban Farm that Floats and Grows in NYC, state that New York’s 14,000 acres of unshaded rooftop could feed as many as 20 million people a year, far more than the whole population of the city.

Image from Architects Newspaper. Rooftop garden in Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, architect Alexis Rochas has put a rooftop garden on an old Holiday Inn that was converted to a condominium. See him talking about this project below.

These are just a few examples of creative uses of rooftops and walls gardens. Technology is moving forward and with a little bit of good will and a whole lot of imagination, there is hope for a wonderful and green future for our cities.

Neighbors of a four-block inner city park in Baltimore, MD, are revitalizing this previously vibrant
area by founding Friends of Mount Vernon Place. Citizens organized clean-up days, a flower
market and a book festival. Through their efforts, the place is now referred to as the “heart of Baltimore.” They have redirected green efforts of global awareness and pointed it back into the
local community.

The efforts are found throughout the country, from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. These changes are also taking effect throughout the world. So the mantra of the environmental movement, “think globally, act locally” is finding a new twist as communities are now thinking, as well as acting,
locally. Pride is instilled back into neighborhoods that were once dangerous and defunct through
small changes such as what the residents of the Baltimore area have made. Revitalization is at
hand, and that is a good thing.

© Paul Burns/Getty.
Read more about it on www.emagazine.com