Smart Electric Picnic Tables Give Old Solar Panels A New Life

InnovationSustainabilitySmart Electric Picnic Tables Give Old Solar Panels A New LifeByJoshua Pearce,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Joshua Pearce is a professor at Western University covering economics and sustainabilityFollow AuthorApr 28, 2026, 06:07am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Charging a phone on a smart picnic table made with an old solar panel.Sara Khan (CC-BY)The global solar photovoltaic market size swelled to over $500 billion last year. This is because of the simple fact that solar energy is now the cheapest electricity in history. It seems that everyone is snapping solar panels up and you should really consider investing in solar yourself. New dark black silicon modules have better performance than even solar panels from a few years ago. Companies are repowering solar farms simply to make even more money. So often panels are being retired long before the end of their lifetimes. What do we do with the leftover solar panels? They still work just fine. A new study lays out how to give retired solar panels a new life by acting as electronic picnic tables.Old Solar Panels Still Make EnergyIn the old days, solar panels were often considered “retired” once they reached the end of their manufacturer warranty (typically 20–30 years), but in practice many still retain a substantial proportion of their original power output beyond that period. The annual degradation rates for crystalline-silicon cell based solar panels generally fall between 0.2% and 0.8%, with a global median of approximately 0.5% per year, indicating that even after 25 years many panels can still deliver 85–90% of their initial capacity, depending on environmental conditions and maintenance practices. Most solar panels on the market now are silicon based. For example, long-term field data from 23 solar power systems across different climates in the Unite...