Current Solar Panels Use Expensive Rare Earth Minerals

For example a single tesla vehicle requires about 15 pounds or a bowling ball s worth of lithium and thin cheap solar panels need tellurium one of the rarest elements on earth.

Current solar panels use expensive rare earth minerals.

Rare earth metals are used in solar panels and wind turbines as well as electric cars and consumer electronics. Rare metals are especially vital for renewable energy technologies such as electric cars and solar panels. A shortage of rare earth metals used in everything from electric car batteries to solar panels to wind turbines is hampering the growth of renewable energy technologies. Thin film solar cells using bronze cu sn and brass cu zn as base materials are composed of non toxic earth abundant materials and have been studied worldwide because of their low cost.

This leads to demand for the minerals in lithium ion batteries such as aluminium cobalt iron lead lithium manganese nickel and graphite. A new report by the french environment and energy management agency ademe shows that rare earth minerals are not widely used in solar energy and battery storage technologies. By depleting earth of its resources solar energy is not sustainable as the components required are limited. Solar pv technology increases the need for energy storage units both in the form of individual batteries for private use and on a large scale in electrical grids.