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Solar power is the fastest growing energy technology in history, and wind is not far behind (twitter.com)

submitted 1 year ago by keepthepace to c/energy

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I have been pro-nuclear for more than a decade, but it is clear that it has lost politically at this point. I used to say that we needed a 40 years nuclear transition so that the solar tech could catch up. We are almost there. We sadly relied on oil and coal instead to develop these tech but we finally are here and it will soon start to make sense to advocate for a direct transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

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[–] BastingChemina 4 points 1 year ago

I'm not too worried about solar. After 30 years solar panels are still productive, they are just slightly less efficient.

I think the standard is that they are still at least at 80% of their capacity new. So unless they are damaged by storm they can still produce pretty much indefinitely.

Even after that it's quite straight forward to remove solar panels. Any Joe with some basics told should be able to revive the panels. He might need few extra friend to remove the concrete foundation i but that's it

Wind turbines on the other hand have a lot of moving parts. It's more like a car, it need regular maintenance and can last for a while but at one point the maintenance might become too expensive. The turbine can also become dangerous. After that removing the turbine will require more advanced equipments but most of it is steel so easy to recycle. The blade on the other hand are not recyclable. So a wind turbine will last between 15-30 years but not much longer.