Rare Earth Solar Panels

Neodymium is a so called rare earth element a silvery metal with a very important role.

Rare earth solar panels.

Currently marketed photovoltaic solar technologies do not use rare earths. More clean energy means more solar panels wind turbines electric vehicles and large scale batteries. 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. So why the interest in rare earth.

Lawrence meinert the acting deputy associate director of the energy and minerals division of the united states geological survey usgs called humanity s consumption of metals over the last century truly mind boggling. Using the magnet mounting kit is easy. 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. Mining for rare metals is considered to be one of china s most polluting industries presenting potential disasters relating to contamination that threaten to cause a wide scale catastrophe.

Of the commonly used batteries only nickel metal hydride nimh batteries contain a rare earth alloy on the cathode but. 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. Revision of solar panel production process. 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.

By depleting earth of its resources solar energy is not sustainable as the components required are limited. High performance batteries need lithium which is only easily extracted from briny pools in the andes. In 2011 the average price of rare earth metals shot up by as much as 750 percent. Terbium and europium are used in thin film solar panels while dysprosium is used to manufacture batteries in most hybrid gas electric vehicles that use magnets.