Soda can solar heating: good idea/bad idea?

brianlux
brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
edited February 2013 in A Moving Train
I'm not sure about this one. Recycling the cans might be a better option because doing so means less environmentally destructive mining. This kind of thing brings to mind the question, "What is green?"

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=935_1361627074
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni

Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • mookeywrench
    mookeywrench Posts: 6,081
    Except the cans already exist, there's no way those would become so mainstream that it would outpace the amount of aluminum cans people consume and toss annually.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    mookeywrench wrote:
    Except the cans already exist, there's no way those would become so mainstream that it would outpace the amount of aluminum cans people consume and toss annually.

    It blows my mind to think people toss aluminum cans away... as in the trash? Unfathomable. If that is the case, they won't end up being made into solar panels unless someone pulls them out of the trash.

    I respect this guys efforts but I still question how "green" these solar panels are. Mining aluminum is very dirty business and very bad for the surrounding environment. Recycling them seems like a better choice. And to my way of thinking it is even better to avoid aluminum cans all together by using refillable glass containers (anyone beside me old enough to remember that?) and reduce our energy consumption.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    brianlux wrote:
    mookeywrench wrote:
    Except the cans already exist, there's no way those would become so mainstream that it would outpace the amount of aluminum cans people consume and toss annually.

    It blows my mind to think people toss aluminum cans away... as in the trash? Unfathomable. If that is the case, they won't end up being made into solar panels unless someone pulls them out of the trash.

    I respect this guys efforts but I still question how "green" these solar panels are. Mining aluminum is very dirty business and very bad for the surrounding environment. Recycling them seems like a better choice. And to my way of thinking it is even better to avoid aluminum cans all together by using refillable glass containers (anyone beside me old enough to remember that?) and reduce our energy consumption.

    At least he's trying, I guess... Could be worse, using plastic...

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