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08-03-2022, 01:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 01:20 PM by Space Karen.)
Solar panels are refined silicon.
More than 25% of the average lava rock is silicon.
![[Image: lava-rock-breakdown.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/Y2q5mf9/lava-rock-breakdown.jpg)
Someone out there has to have tried to melt a lava rock into silicon to make low efficiency homebrew panels.
I can't be the only one thinking about it.
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It's not practical or cost-effective to ship lava to a manufacturing facility, nor to build a manufacturing facility near the lava, or people would already be doing that.
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The question about the depleted battery in a EV car seems to imply that it’s a dangerous environmental hazard.
As compared to what? The thousands and thousands of gallons of gas and oil put into a combustion engine over its lifespan? Pumped up out of the ground thousands of miles from Hawaii, shipped, refined, shipped again to the neighbor islands, loaded on a truck and driven to a gas station. Then burned and sent into the atmosphere. That’s better? Because it’s invisible?
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08-03-2022, 07:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 07:19 PM by Space Karen.)
(08-03-2022, 02:03 PM)kalakoa Wrote: It's not practical or cost-effective to ship lava to a manufacturing facility, nor to build a manufacturing facility near the lava, or people would already be doing that.
Can be done in the backyard.
Lots of time and effort in a dirty and energy intensive process to make low quality expensive panels, in contrast to what is available in stores.
Most will settle for heating sand and lava rock hot enough to make glass and call it a day.
But isn't it interesting how much raw materials are available all around us in the form of lava rock. I think someone smart might find a use for it, sometime.
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"The question about the depleted battery in a EV car seems to imply that it’s a dangerous environmental hazard."
Perhaps it’s the way I’m asking the question that is causing the confusion.
What do you plan to do with the CAR when it will no longer make it to the mailbox and back? The whole thing, not just the battery.
Will you have to pay to have this perfectly good vehicle that needs a repair that costs more than the car is worth removed from your property?
If I owned a commercial junk yard I would not accept these vehicles into my yard, with or without the battery being removed. Why? Because there is no demand for the other parts. With very few exceptions, the only part these vehicles need is a new battery. And this situation is only going to get worse as more and more Evs reach the end of their battery life and become “totaled”.
Perhaps it will get so expensive to dispose of these vehicles that it will make more sense to spend the 15k to make it run again?
Anyway, I hope this makes my question and my concerns more clear.
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08-03-2022, 09:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 09:45 PM by HereOnThePrimalEdge.)
If I had a 10 year old car with a blown engine, it also may not be worth the cost of fixing.
The County allows each resident to junk a vehicle every year for free, resident only pays towing fee, or in the case of an old EV with 10 or 15 miles of range you can drive it to Shipman Industrial. They take the cars, combustion powered, EV, whatever so it doesn’t end up rusting in someone’s driveway or on the side of the road.
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(08-02-2022, 08:05 PM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: My 2 cents:
1) the Leaf is 10 years old. I didn’t think a 10 year old car was worth more than a $5000 or so to repair/upgrade. It runs fine, has good acceleration. We make short trips so works great as a second or third car...
IMO it's worth it to keep the old Leaf going indefinitely, especially if the primary reason for owning an EV is environmental concerns. Financially it doesn't seem like such a bad deal either. There's very little to go wrong with an EV compared to a ICE vehicle. No starter, alternator, exhaust, cooling system and so on to worry about failing. Brakes and steering is about it, right?
Battery disposal/repurposing is certainly a valid problem and issue to be addressed for these vehicles.
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Nice cut n paste HOTPE .You have sipped the kool aid.
And avoiding the pertinent question
Even AAAs say dispose of properly.
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Don't forget lithium is a drug with valid medical use.
https://www.drugs.com/lithium.html
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The average car emits 6 to 9 tons of carbon each year. That's just one of the many pollutants a gas powered vehicle produces. So I would ask all who are environmentally concerned about an EV battery that weighs at most a few hundred pounds, and it's all in one place that is easily collected, not 60 to 90 TONS which a car tosses into the atmosphere over 10 years - -
How do you plan on getting back your pollutants for safe disposal? And don't think planting a couple trees will do the trick.
