RE: Solar energy: is this really "green"?

All of the issues you've listed here already have solutions just waiting to be implemented. Some of them have always been a bit spurious.

Mining and toxic minerals: Modern solar panels only use heavy metals in the solder that is used them, and the amount of solder going into solar panels is negligible on a global scale. The cadmium and rhodium doped silicon panels haven't been manufactured for nearly 20 years.

Energy intensive manufacturing: Everything we manufacture is energy intensive. Solar panels are one of the only things we manufacture that will make future manufacturing cleaner. As more and more factories move to solar energy, this becomes less and less of an issue. In less developed countries where most panels are manufactured, factories are moving to solar faster than in most of the western world.

Land and water use: I agree that there is a legitimate issue here, but this problem is not inherent to solar energy, but rather a problem with any large scale development. Large swaths of land are used simply because it's cheaper to build solar arrays that way. It's the same reason we built coal power plants too close to urban areas. Solar panels on earth do not need to be regularly cleaned; that is just a myth. Absolutely no fresh water is necessary for the installation of a solar grid.

Recycling and waste management: This is another problem with development, not with solar panels. Solar panels do not have a natural end of lifespan. Commercial arrays get replaced as a money scam, not because they quit making electricity. Every install I build is made with 'used' commercial solar panels, which actually outperform most of the new 'homeowner' grade panels I've seen in use. The same is true for the batteries. All of my installs use recycled EV batteries. Even when panels DO end up in landfills, they do not leach toxic materials into the ground, unless you start spraying them with acid. Even if you spray them with acid, there is less toxic material in a commercial solar panel than there is in a cell phone.

Energy storage: While batteries are fine for home use, they are impractical for large scale arrays, but there are simple solutions to this. The easiest known way of storing solar energy, which is growing in use in the US, is to simply use the excess daytime energy to pump water to a reservoir uphill, and use that stored water to run hydroelectric power at night. These systems have a lot of potential for actually improving ecosystems in areas where they are installed. Anybody talking about using battery storage for infrastructure scale systems is running a scam.