Even this article doesn't “Get Real” with the issue of Solar Energy. Solar Energy isn't “Clean”. Sunshine is clean.
Solar Energy take toxic materials to create electricity and it takes toxic materials to store the electricity. Do a search on “Deep Cycle Batteries”, the kind used for solar power. You’ll find out that they only last about as long as your car battery. 60 months and cost anywheres from $500 - $1000 a pop and you'll need about 10 of them.
Who's gonna recycle all of the lead and sulfuric acid. Solar panels have a life span as well and they also will need to be reclaimed to prevent they're toxic materials from entering the “Environment”. Who's eating that cost?
"Solar Energy take toxic materials to create electricity and it takes toxic materials to store the electricity. Do a search on “Deep Cycle Batteries”, the kind used for solar power. You’ll find out that they only last about as long as your car battery.60 months and cost anywheres from $500 - $1000 a pop and you'll need about 10 of them." Which is why solar probably will not use batteries. Though there "are" batteries that have much longer lives than lead-acid. I ran across one article that said that modern Edison cells can last fifty years, if properly maintained
"Who's gonna recycle all of the lead and sulfuric acid."
Uh, don't look now, but we ALREADY recycle vast amounts of lead and sulfuric acid (there are roughly 250 MILLION cars in the US).
"Solar panels have a life span as well and they also will need to be reclaimed to prevent they're toxic materials from entering the “Environment”. Who's eating that cost?"
Modern thin-film cells are warrantied for 25 years. And recovering and recycling their component materiasls is actually easier than for car batteries.