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I am curious about your third point. From my understanding solar panels are 99% sand. I searched around a little and all I could find is that the thin film ty
by dougmany 11y ago
I am curious about your third point. From my understanding solar panels are 99% sand. I searched around a little and all I could find is that the thin film type need Tellurium. The rarity of Tellurium is comparable to that of platinum. The standard crystalline type do not. Maybe someone else can expand on this.
- pjc50 11y agoThey don't need a lot of Tellurium, and that's only for the "thin film" cadmium-telluride ones. Most are mono- or poly-crystalline. There's quite a few nasty intermediate chemicals: http://www.solarindustrymag.com/issues/SI1309/FEAT_05_Hazardous_Materials_Used_In_Silicon_PV_Cell_Production_A_Primer.html http://www.solarindustrymag.com/issues/SI1309/FEAT_05_Hazard... - but the responsible manufacturer will recycle them on-site. "Rare earth" supply concerns usually means neodymium for magnets. In any case, most of them could be extracted from aluminium mine tailings ("red mud") at moderate expense.
- ChrisGranger 11y agoHe might be referring to gallium arsenide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_arsenide#Solar_cells_and_detectors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_arsenide#Solar_cells_a...