Revisiting Our Earth Day Challenge to the Industry
When we’re counting our waste materials by the millions of tonnes, Earth Day isn’t a kitschy marketing play for themed middle school field trips. The spirit of Earth Day is consequential for our environment, and it’s the reason we got into solar energy, and ultimately, our mission to lead conscious solar decommissioning in the first place.
Back on Earth Day 2021, we put a challenge out to the solar decommissioning community. We knew that after a decade of explosive growth, the solar industry undoubtedly solidified its place as a key player in combating the climate crisis. Our point of view: we must take a critical look at the ever-increasing volume of solar modules reaching their end of life and how we’re going to manage that. To mismanage solar as modules age out would negate the reasons to choose solar in the first place.
Solar modules can’t end up in landfills and be called sustainable energy.
In our call to action blog five years ago, we reported that the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) predicted that solar would amount to 78 million tonnes of waste by 2050.
We are right on pace to hit that number.
It’s this fact that gave birth to Decom Solar’s mission: to lead the charge on sustainable recycling of end-of-life modules. Five years later, we’re proud to say we are making good on that promise. Today, we serve solar system owners in all fifty states with solar decommissioning options that keep solar out of landfills.
Our work with large commercial solar systems that are aging out goes beyond thoughtful decommissioning practices. Wherever possible, we prioritize reuse – extending the life of existing systems to power underprivileged communities. In addition, our partnership with One Tree Planted means that with every successful solar decommissioning project, we invest real money into the reforestation of the planet!
With solar decommissioning needs on the rise in the United States, we want to double down on our challenge to the industry. If we’re serious about tackling the climate crisis head-on, one thing is clear: we can’t cut corners on solar recycling.
