alt.hn

3/16/2026 at 2:06:45 PM

Malawi's solar boom is leaving a toxic legacy of lead waste

 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/malawis-solar-boom-is-leaving-a-toxic-legacy-of-lead-waste/

by PaulHoule

3/16/2026 at 6:08:13 PM

In the end, nothing is a perfect, complete solution for anything... there are always trade offs and additional pieces to consider in an ecosystem as a whole.

That said, I think there's less and less reason for business operations, especially those in daylight hours not to leverage solar as much as possible. For that matter, I don't think it's an undue burden for all the new data centers to be responsible for producing at least half of their energy needs from renewable resources... if that means they need more land or to have covered parking lots with solar panels, so be it imo.

Bulk panel ans systems pricing is incredibly reasonable at this point.

by tracker1

3/16/2026 at 4:01:40 PM

Human-summarized: people are using lead-acid batteries for storage, and there's a cottage industry in recycling them by hand, because Malawi is an incredibly poor country.

by pjc50

3/16/2026 at 4:33:57 PM

I guess this is then bordering on anti-solar propaganda.

by _aavaa_

3/16/2026 at 6:06:19 PM

Esp. because most coal powerplants emit huge amount of heavy metals like mercury (naturally occuring in coal).

E.g. even the mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamps criticized for their mercury content brought _less_ mercury into the environment compared to a classic light bulb. Because nearly every country's energy mix had so much coal, that the pollution by the excess usage covered landscapes with more heavy metals than the miniscule amount in the energy savers.

by GuestFAUniverse

3/16/2026 at 5:06:51 PM

It is a bit frustrating looking at how technology can help elevate poor people yet at the same time moves the goal posts due to some unforeseen side effect. One step forward sand two backwards.

This also shines a light on why technology as a fix is more than just giving people products - its about how to manage those products throughout and after their lifetimes.

by MisterTea

3/16/2026 at 5:54:11 PM

Did you read the article? This isn’t about the lifetimes of the panels, it’s about lead acid batteries used to store energy from the panels.

by _aavaa_