• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Recycled Solar Panels

Recycled Solar Panels

September 2, 2014
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/140902_sciup_solar.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

The Tire Zoo Flickr
Lead-acid batteries are going the way of the Dodo. (The Tire Zoo/Flickr)

Solar cells from old batteries. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Solar cells made using recycled car batteries could soon be powering homes. According to MIT materials scientist Angela Belcher, older lead-acid batteries are giving way to more efficient models. That leaves a lot of unused lead lying around. She and her team, which included graduate student Po-Yen Chen, have been dismantling lead-acid batteries and repurposing them to create thin coatings for solar cells, which convert the sun’s energy into power for homes.

ANGELA BELCHER (Massachusetts Institute of Technology):

And so, we can isolate the lead out, and that converts into, depending on where you are in Cambridge, Massachusetts here, about 13 to 14 residential units, or in Las Vegas, about 30.

HIRSHON:

That’s because Las Vegas gets more sun. She says the lead is encased in other materials, making it safe and environmentally friendly. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Energy, Engineering & Technology, Environment & Conservation, Physics
Previous Post:TB’s Unexpected Journey
Next Post:Sniffing Out Reefs

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos