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Comment by Scaevolus | Hacker News Reader

I'd rather use 20% more land than revisit the "woops, lead everywhere thanks to energy" of the 20th century.

> revisit the "woops, lead everywhere thanks to energy" of the 20th century

That seeeeems unlikely to me. We know the dangers of lead now, and it is treated much more carefully. It's absolutely good to be aware of, but I don't think we're going to make the same mistake.

Also worth considering that coal & garbage-fueled plants output lead directly into the atmosphere[1], so if these help take coal plants offline, it's still a gain even if they aren't perfect.

[1] https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/isee.2021.P-143

> We know the dangers of lead now, and it is treated much more carefully.

Like we don't cover our roofs with solar panels made from lead crystals.

We knew the dangers of lead when we put it into gasoline. We let industry leaders gaslight us into thinking it wasn't something to worry about.

No need to blame faceless corporations. The inventor was famously complacent about it.

  Facing a crowd of journalists, inventor Thomas Midgley Jr. poured a lead additive over his hands and then proceeded to inhale its fumes for about a minute. Unfazed, he said, “I could do this every day without getting any health problems whatsoever.”
  Soon afterward, Midgley needed medical treatment.

> I'd rather use 20% more land

This could actually be a pretty massive issue in theory on its own, though. We really need to be covering/converting parking spaces and reusing existing land waste.

I've been told that in France large car parks have to have covered areas with solar panels on top.

The lead is contained within a solid panel, it's not like we're burning in our gasoline that pumps it into the air. As long as the panels are recycled I don't see the issue.

These panels will be used in utility scale projects which might be in areas prone to freak hail storms. Such a storm could pulverize the panels and the melting hail or rain could wash the leaded debris onto the ground below it. That can eventually make its way into the water table. Damaged panels in the rain/snow can have the same effect. Another scenario are hybrid farms where runoff from leaking or damaged panels could make its way directly into the food chain. Fires will melt and destroy panels and enable the lead to enter the ground and air. You also assumes every panel will be properly recycled and seeing how much illegal dumping exists to save a dollar I have little hope of a completely closed system.

So yeah, I see issues.

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