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I mention this all the time to coworkers who blindly believe solar is a perfect technology. It is really, really bad - especially the old stuff with all these REE's and extremely low efficiency. I am pretty upset that California now REQUIRES solar for new construction. It really feels we should have waited for the efficiency/cleanliness/recycling to mature a lot before that.

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solar panels actively reduce CO2 emissions every day they are in use. They only pollute if they are dumped irresponsibly after their ~15 year service life. why would it be good to forego something that reduces emissions now, in order to develop recycling for something that won't be discarded until 15 years?

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