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How to recycle dead glass solar panels

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How to recycle dead glass solar panels

How to recycle dead glass solar panels

The move toward solar energy as a “clean” source of electricity is definitely underway. Solar energy is more attractive in some areas than in others, but the growing population of solar panels is raising questions about what happens when a solar panel dies?

The life expectancy of a solar panel is somewhere in the 20-30 year range. Japan alone expects to retire somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 million old solar panels annually by 2040. That’s the equivalent of more than 100,000 solar panels each day. The logistics of disposal at that volume require some thought, so Japan is making plans to do just that!

The contemporary solar panel is a five-layered affair, with glass being on top. Recycling glass isn’t much of a trick; glass is used and reused regularly. The glass in a solar panel isn’t contaminated, so recycling the glass is comparatively easy.

The second and fourth layers of a solar cell consists of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), which surround the third layer – the actual solar cell. The EVA is laminated to the solar cell using heat, which sticks the solar-and-EVA-sandwich to the glass top layer. The fifth layer is the backing. Once all of the components are layered together, they’re stored in an aluminum frame. Add some wires and other minor components and you have a basic solar cell.

Because the EVA is stuck to the glass, the recycling process needs to include a method for freeing the glass. Not surprisingly, the “unsticking” process involves heat. The dead solar cell is heated to about 400° F, which softens the EVA layer enough to release the glass with a little mechanical help.

The goal is to recycle at least 80% of the country’s retired solar cells. What happens to the other 20%? The hope is that they can be pressed into service again in areas that receive significant sun exposure. The efficiency of a solar cell degrades over time. After 20 years in service, the average solar cell can generate only 80% of the electricity that a new cell does. While that could make a cell’s value questionable in some parts of the world, an older solar cell could continue working effectively in areas that receive a lot of sunlight.

Additional work needs to be done to improve testing of old solar cells. Improved testing will make it easier to determine which cells should be broken down and which ones can be reassigned. The work to dismantle, recycle and reuse solar cells that’s being done today will reap significant rewards in the next 20—30 years, not just for Japan but for countries worldwide.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store.

Photo Credit: coniferconifer, via Flickr.com

Battle of the backsplashes: Glass v. stone

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Battle of the backsplashes: Glass v. stone

Battle of the backsplashes: Glass v. stone

Decorators are always on the prowl for new materials. Glass and stone have emerged as popular materials for certain applications. Many homeowners are finding new ways to incorporate glass and stone into their homes. These two heavyweights have staked out their territories in the kitchen and bath. It raises the question of which material is better for home decorating?

Glass has its advantages

Glass is the ultimate team player. It lends a high-end look to just about any room, and it oozes practicality. It’s easy to clean, comes in a variety of thicknesses, and can be tempered to add strength. Glass is so versatile that it can be used on the walls, floors, countertops, cabinet fronts, doors and just about any other space.

Glass is valued for its transparency, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spruce it up with a little color. Glassprimer™ glass paint is formulated especially for use on glass surfaces. The paint bonds permanently to the glass surface, and won’t chip, peel or fade, even in direct sunlight. You can cover glass surfaces for about $1 per square foot.

You can apply glass in custom-cut sheets, tiles or even in cement/epoxy composites and get the benefit of glass. While custom tile glass backsplashes can be expensive, you can create a cost-effective backsplash by backpainting glass and attaching it to walls with silicone adhesive in kitchens and bathrooms.

Natural stone backsplashes and other surfaces can also be cost-effective, but natural stones are porous. They may be vulnerable to damage from some household cleaners. To maintain sanitation, the stone surfaces will need to be sealed periodically – perhaps as frequently as once per year. Since glass is impervious, no sealing is needed, and glass can tolerate prolonged contact with virtually all household cleaners and sanitizers.

Natural stone surfaces can (and do) degrade over time. Their natural colors may change due to exposure to cleaning chemicals, and they can detach or become dislodged from the mortar. In addition, natural stones can break following an impact. A broken stone will need to be replaced, and that can be a complicated repair!

If you’d like more information about using glass in your kitchen or bathroom, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: jason mcarthur, via Flickr.com

Glass pennies?! Lost glass penny rediscovered

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Glass pennies?! Lost glass penny rediscovered

Glass pennies?! Lost glass penny rediscovered

During World War II, the United States government was looking for ways to reduce the copper content of pennies, in order to make more copper available for the war effort. Copper was a rationed item, and in 1942, the War Production Board refused to allocate any copper to the US Mint for penny production for 1943.

That sent the US Mint looking for potential substitute materials. The Mint conducted its own experiments with metals and alloys, but also invited private companies to submit prospective replacements for the copper penny made from plastics and alternative materials. As part of the invitation, the Mint loaned specially crafted dies that were to be used by participating companies to produce the samples. The sample dies contained an impression of Liberty and the date for the obverse side, and a wreath with the words “United States Mint” on the reverse side.

The Blue Ridge Glass Company acquired a set of the dies and produced a very limited number of glass samples, using penny-sized tempered blanks created by Corning. The experiment didn’t work very well. To make a glass penny, both the die and the blank had to be heated to just below the melting point of glass. They weren’t able to heat the die properly, and they were only able to achieve soft detail on the glass blanks. In addition, the resulting glass “pennies” had a large number of surface imperfections.

The Blue Ridge Glass Company prepared a report for the US Mint, and that was the end of the glass penny. Only one known example of a glass penny existed, and it was broken in half. Recently, a second example, which is intact, was discovered and graded by the Professional Coin Grading Service. The intact example, which is owned by a private collector, is a virtually identical match to the known, broken coin.

Even without its obvious production flaws, the glass penny likely never would have made it to the production stage. The dimensions and weight of each penny could not be standardized, meaning that each penny would have been slightly different – a violation of the US Mint’s uniformity standards.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store.

Photo Credit: Professional Coin Grading Service

Colorado School gets glass strength grant

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Colorado School gets glass strength grant

Colorado School gets glass strength grant

Glass is both spectacular and fascinating, but the things that make it amazing also challenge our ability to use it. It’s easy to think of glass as a solid material. You can touch it without changing it. It has a hard surface. It has most of the characteristics of a solid. Except that one thing that makes it truly solid – a crystalline molecular structure.

We don’t usually look at glass at the molecular level, but if we did, we’d see glass molecules arranged in a random pattern instead of the typical, neatly ordered structure that gives solids their strength. That molecular randomness makes glass weaker than other materials, and it makes it tough to classify glass as a solid, even though it seems… well … solid.

The Usable Glass Strength Coalition has given an $80,000 grant to the Colorado School of Mines to study glass in order to improve the industry’s understanding of the strength of glass. The CSM proposal was chosen because it advances strength research that was already performed by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. The CSM researchers hope to answer questions about why glass surfaces can lose strength as they interact with their environment.

The researchers will examine flaws in glass and glass components that set or contribute to inherent weaknesses in finished glass. Understanding the mechanisms that make glass weak may help scientists develop new manufacturing methods or discover new materials that can enhance the strength of glass.

Improving the strength of glass can contribute to advances in many different fields, including science and research, manufacturing, construction, clean energy and telecommunications, among others. Today, glass is typically strengthened by heat-treatment or by coating the glass surface to make it more resistant to contact injuries.

Heat-treated glass is significantly stronger than untreated glass, but it may also suffer from manufacturing defects that are hard to detect and can result in catastrophic failures. New coatings can also strengthen and protect a glass surface, but they can be expensive to create and may not protect against common accidents. Being able to strengthen glass at the molecular level may reduce the need to treat glass after manufacturing, and may produce better, more reliable results.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store

Photo Credit: Steven Duong, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – One Vanderbilt

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Iconic Glass Structures – One Vanderbilt

Iconic Glass Structures – One Vanderbilt

Usually, we take some time each week to look at an iconic glass structure. This week’s entry is a little different because it’s the first “iconic” glass building that hasn’t actually been built yet! The fact that One Vanderbilt isn’t lighting up the skyline yet doesn’t stop us from admiring the plan for this 63-story tower.

One Vanderbilt will reside in East Midtown Manhattan, right next door to the Grand Central Terminal. It was designed by Kohn, Pedersen Fox Associates for SL Green Realty Corp. The finished height of the tower will be 1,401 feet, which makes it slightly shorter than the 1,454-foot Empire State Building and about 350 feet taller than the Chrysler Building.

Construction on the glass tower is expected to completed by 2021, but the project has had a slow start. It was held up for more than a year by a lawsuit that claimed the One Vanderbilt tower infringed upon the air rights of the Grand Central Terminal. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and the settlement cleared the way for construction on the tower to begin.

The lawsuit wasn’t the only challenge for the building. The City Council needed to approve a five-block rezoning for the tower and other proposed construction projects. Both the designers and city officials hope the tower and the other planned projects will inject new life into the area’s aging office district.

When it is complete, the new glass tower will be the home of anchor tenant TD Bank, and will feature nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in transit improvements as well as a pedestrian plaza. The tower will cost an estimated $3B. When completed, the glass and steel structure, comprised of four distinct, interlocking sections, will offer 1.75 million square feet of occupiable office space.

One Vanderbilt tower will come to a point, similar to the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. It will have direct connections to the city’s subway system, and will be designed to give street level pedestrians a complete view of the historic Grand Central Terminal building’s façade. The view of the Grand Central Terminal has been obscured for years by other construction around the building, which was demolished to make room for One Vanderbilt Tower.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store

Photo Credit: KPF

Glass Toaster Is More Than Just A Pretty Face

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Glass Toaster Is More Than Just A Pretty Face

Glass Toaster Is More Than Just A Pretty Face

No one likes the idea of getting old, and as it turns out, small things can make a home dangerous for people as they age. One issue that arises more often for older folks is burned toast. On the surface, burned toast sounds more like a nuisance than a problem, but burned toast can lead to other, more serious things – like kitchen fires and questions about whether older adults are able to maintain their own homes. Enter the glass toaster.

According to elder care providers, small changes – like the addition of a glass toaster – can make a big difference for older adults who are trying to “age in place.” Glass toasters allow the user to view the bread as it toasts, and provide a visual reminder to the user that the toaster is in use. Glass toasters tend to virtually eliminate burned toast- and the smoke alarm response that may accompany it.

Several manufacturers make glass-sided toasters, and they’ve been on the market since about 2010. While most are designed with style in mind, their practicality is undeniable, especially for older users.

Using glass in the kitchen offers a number of advantages for an “aging-in-place” strategy. Glass countertops and backsplashes are durable and easy to care for. Using a coating like Glassprimer™ glass paint, glass can be backpainted and applied directly to kitchen walls using neutral cure silicone caulk.

If you prefer a lighter weight material, Glassprimer™ glass paint can be applied to Plexiglas™, a lightweight alternative to glass. Plexiglas™ can be used to replace or liven up cabinet fronts and drawer fronts. It’s not recommended for use close to the stove, but Plexiglas™ is easy to install and remove, and it can be cleaned easily with ordinary household cleaners.

If you’d like more information about using glass in the kitchen, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Day Donaldson, via Flickr.com

Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

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Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

Glass Plate Negatives Discovered in Peoria

Photography has changed quite a bit since its invention. While most images created today are stored digitally, early photographs were developed on glass plates. Glass is an incredibly durable material, but only a small number of glass plate negatives survive.

That’s part of what makes a discovery in Peoria so interesting. Workers from a salvage company that was removing architectural materials from an abandoned home in that city discovered a trove of glass plate negatives. The home was scheduled for demolition, and was in poor condition. The roof had failed on the home, leaving it filled with water and mold.

Among the abandoned property was a collection of more than 200 glass negatives that had somehow escaped the rain. The negatives were made between the late 1800’s and the 1930’s, in and around Peoria. Some of the negatives featured the home being demolished. Others included portraits, street scenes, vacation photographs and early Peoria landmarks.

Glass plate negatives are exceptionally fragile, and must be stored carefully to preserve the negative and to avoid damaging the emulsion. The Peoria negatives were removed from the home, and were purchased by a local collector. Some of the images were in poor condition and some of the glass plates were broken. The collector was able to restore the images and scanned them to preserve them.

Because of their fragility, it is unusual to find more than a few glass plate negatives at one time. Some libraries and newspapers maintain archival collections of glass plate negatives because newspapers commonly used glass plate photography into the mid-1930s.

A few specialty photographers still use glass plates because they provide significant tone and detail. The initial wet plate technique required the use of a substance called collodion, which was flammable. A wet-plate glass negative also had to be prepared immediately before the image was made, and required a five-minute exposure. The image also needed to be developed before the collodion dried. That limited the use of wet plate negatives to still images and portraits.

A refined, dry plate technique allowed photographers to prepare their negatives ahead of time, and process the negative when convenient. It also shortened the required exposure time.
Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator resolves many of the problems associated with printing on glass today. Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator prepares the glass surface in advance of UV-inkjet printing. The product allows UV inks to bond to glass, eliminating the need for heat curing, and enabling full-color, photorealistic printing on glass.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass surface molecular activator, or Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: James Morley, via Flickr.com

Portland Glass Factory Improves Air Quality

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Portland Glass Factory Improves Air Quality

Portland Glass Factory Improves Air Quality

The Portland glass factory that has been at the center of an environmental debate has reduced its heavy metals emissions by 98% compared to this time last year. According to the Oregon Health Authority, the filtration system put in place by Bullseye Glass is working well, and they’ve removed two of the four monitoring systems they installed following the revelation that the glass factory was emitting high concentrations of toxic heavy metals.

Bullseye Glass has installed 12 filters and will install an additional six in the coming months. The filters capture emissions of heavy metals like lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic, which had been released untreated into the air around the factory.

Oregon state environmental officials first became aware of the toxic emissions when they sampled mosses from trees growing near the factory. The discovery, which was repeated around other local glass factories, touched off a national debate about the safety of small glass factories.

Oregon’s findings also spurred the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin monitoring air quality around other glass furnaces nationwide. Small furnaces have been exempt from filtration requirements that are applied to larger producers. The discovery of high concentrations of toxic metals has resulted in much stricter filtration requirements.

The debate has also produced casualties. Uroboros Glass, another local Portland glass manufacturer, announced last month that it would permanently close its doors because it could not afford to install the required filtration systems.

Bullseye is also working to tweak its filtration system to capture selenium emissions, which tests have shown are still elevated around the factory. Selenium is necessary for good health and occurs naturally in the ground. It does not pose the same dangers that the factory’s other emissions, but regulators want to see selenium levels around the factory reduced. Selenium is safe in small amounts, but excess selenium intake can result in selenium toxicity, the symptoms of which can persist for months.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store.

Photo Credit: America’s Power, via Flickr.com

Glass Adds Style to Home

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Glass Adds Style to Home

Glass Adds Style to Home

If you’re intent on adding a modern touch to your home, there’s no better material to work with than glass. It delivers a minimalist touch while retaining its oh-so-practical nature. Glass is insanely versatile, and it’s rarely impractical in the modern space.

Glass works so well precisely because it’s so minimal. There’s just something irresistible about being able to see through a space. Glass allows natural light to travel, so it’s definitely high on the list of materials for small spaces, and spaces that have limited access to natural lighting.

Glass comes in a variety of thicknesses, which means it can be used for more than just windows. Glass walls, staircases, floors and countertops can all find a place in the modern home.

If you want to go glass on a staircase, you’ll need to consult with architects, fabricators and contractors that have specific experience with creating glass staircases. While they seem light and airy, there’s a bevy of local code requirements for staircases (made from any material), and you’ll need to plan accordingly for railings and other required safety measures.

Glass countertops are all the rage, and can be made in a number of ways. Thick glass can be used as a counter surface. The advantage of going with straight glass is that you can light it and paint it to your liking. Glass can also be bound with epoxy or cement to make a composite countertop. Composites are strong and can add a delightful visual component to your counters.

You can also use glass as a backsplash or wall covering. Glass and glass tiles are extremely popular right now, and can give your kitchen or bathroom a unique appearance. When used as a wall covering, glass is relatively easy to work with, and can be decorated easily.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store

Photo Credit: , via Flickr.com

Miro’s Only Glass Mural Restored

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Miro's Only Glass Mural Restored

Miro’s Only Glass Mural Restored

Spanish artist Joan Miro was most well known for his murals, sculptures and ceramics. Despite his facility with both painting and ceramics, he didn’t combine the two materials, except in one place: Wichita State University. Miro’s only glass and marble mural resides at the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art.

Miro painted the mural on canvas and turned it over to artisans who used the canvas as a guide to create the finished glass and marble work.

Unlike most museum pieces, the mural isn’t inside the building. It sits on the museum’s south exterior wall. In 2011, the museum undertook a massive restoration of the mural, removing it from the wall to rebuild it. Curators estimate that the mural shed about 400 small glass tiles each year. The original mural glass was created by Ateliers Loire in France.

When it was constructed, the mural was divided into 80 separate panels. It was removed in exactly the way it was constructed, and rebuilt in pieces. Conservators cut thousands of new glass tiles, designed to match the original French tiles. The panels were treated with a new epoxy that allows the mural to flex. This should allow the glass tesserae to adhere to the mural better, and withstand weather and seasonal temperature changes.

After five years of restoration, the mural was returned to its place outside of the museum last month, and is the subject of a celebratory exhibition of Miro’s works in all media.

The use of glass tiles isn’t just being seen in this mural. Many interior designers are turning to glass, glass tile and glass composites to create both interior and exterior designs. The versatility and durability of glass is at the heart of its popularity in design.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store

Photo Credit: Brent Danley, via Flickr.com