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.
Rare earth metals in solar panels.
But it also means more demand for the materials that make those technologies possible.
Revision of solar panel production process.
More clean energy means more solar panels wind turbines electric vehicles and large scale batteries.
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Rare earth metals are used in solar panels and wind turbines as well as electric cars and consumer electronics.
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.
Researchers are now working to find alternatives to these critical elements or better ways to recycle them.
According to the analysis turbines and solar panels might be skyrocketing a bit too much.
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.
Rare metals are especially vital for renewable energy technologies such as electric cars and solar panels.
We don t recycle them and there s not enough to meet growing demand.
By depleting earth of its resources solar energy is not sustainable as the components required are limited.
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.