Thin film pv technologies for example contain potentially critical metals such as tellurium.
Rare earth elements in solar panels.
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.
High performance batteries need lithium which is only easily extracted from briny pools in the andes.
However a lack of rare earths does not mean that the components of solar modules are harmless.
Rare earth elements are 17 elements found on earth.
However recent research coming out of the netherlands has spotted a red flag to relying on solar panels as a panacea for global emissions problems.
In 2011 the average price of rare earth metals shot up by as much as 750 percent.
Neodymium is a so called rare earth element a silvery metal with a very important role in renewable energy.
Rare earth metals hard to find materials with unfamiliar names such as lanthanum neodymium and europium are used in wind and solar energy projects but dwindling supplies could hindera roll out of low carbon technologies and slow china s shift away from coal power.
This means that global production of several rare earth minerals used in solar panels and wind turbines especially neodymium terbium indium dysprosium and praseodymium must grow twelvefold by.
Thin cheap solar panels need tellurium which makes up a scant 0 0000001 percent of the earth s crust making it three times rarer than gold.
Rare metals are especially vital for renewable energy technologies such as electric cars and solar panels.
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Terbium and europium are used in thin film solar panels while dysprosium is used to manufacture batteries in most hybrid gas electric.