Obsolete Solar Panels Recycling and Economic Growth

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the impact of obsolete solar panels recycling on the economic growth rate and the optimal time of depletion of exhaustible resource. Using a simple growth model where the solar panels constitutes the physical capital, the labor and exhaustible resource, we study how the recycling of obsolete solar panels impacts the growth rate and the optimal exhaustion time of this kind of natural input. The optimal switching point of time is derived, from the regime where primary and secondary input are used together, to the regime in which the exhaustible resource is completely depleted and only secondary material is used. JEL classification: O44; Q32.