Bodie checks in from the Big Island of Hawaii with a couple of unexpected connections, including a visit to Kona Sea Salt and an introduction to Root & Rise Hawaiʻi, an organization using nature, art, and community to support mental health and well-being. Then it’s an all-renewable-energy episode, starting with what happens to solar panels when they reach the end of their useful lives and why recycling them is still an economic challenge. Sweden is preparing for a future where tens of thousands of metric tons of solar panels could be retired every year, while researchers and recyclers look for better ways to recover valuable materials and give usable panels a second life. Bodie also looks at free software that can estimate how many solar panels will fit on a rooftop using photos or roof plans. Finally, a community solar project in Illinois shows how high-density mounting systems can squeeze significantly more solar generation onto difficult, irregular pieces of land. It’s a look at some of the less flashy problems renewable energy has to solve as solar continues to scale.
Other Podcasts:
Mentioned in the Episode: Publications: News Links:- Sweden could face 150,000 metric tons of end-of-life panels annually
- Free software calculates how many solar modules fit on a rooftop from a photo
- Space Squeeze Forces Solar Developers To Get Creative
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