Toxic Metal: An Issue for Ultrathin PV Panels. By James Kanter, NYTimes, November 9, 2009. "The rapid growth of FirstSolar [based in Tempe, Arizona] is the result of its focus on ultrathin photovoltaic panels that are more versatile than conventional crystalline models. The technology has helped displace the view that solar power could never become an affordable or realistic way of lowering emissions on a large scale. But these new panels contain a compound of cadmium, an extremely toxic metal already banned from most products in Europe. The compound is made with the element tellurium to create cadmium telluride, which enables the conversion of light to electricity... First Solar is the world's largest maker of such panels, and they are its sole product, and that makes the company more vulnerable than many of its competitors to a new effort to tighten up laws on hazardous chemicals in Europe... The European Photovoltaic Industry Association [EPIA], an industry organization... warned that a 'young, growing industry' still striving 'to reach competitiveness' should not be subject to the hazardous waste rules."
2009-11-16
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