Reply #6: This is NOT a joke.

[NNadir]

The external cost of solar power is the subject of fairly exhaustive examination in the scientific literature.

It is non-trivial.

The picture is very, very, very, very much like the profile of electronic waste, which is hardly surprising since the chemistry is very similar.

The reality is routinely overlooked because despite 50 years of hand waving, solar energy has persistantly failed to become anything but a trivial toy.

Here are the amounts of energy produced by all forms of energy in the United States:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/table1.html

Solar is so trivial, it probably shouldn't even be listed. If - I don't expect this to happen - solar ever becomes comparable with say, hydroelectric, the waste problem will become very noticable.