[KennyBlanken]

Solar panels "produced from rare earth minerals" is "under-reported" because they are not made from rare earth minerals, and further: the minor metals they are dependent upon are byproducts of refining base metals, ie there isn't much additional impact from using them; we already make them.

I'm not really sure how someone who supposedly worked in solar panel research would think rare earth metals are used in solar panel construction.

Solar panels have decades-long lifespans (their rated lifespan is based on when they drop below 80% efficiency, not when they become useless), there's a growing recycling chain to sell complete aged panels to other markets (typically underdeveloped nations where daily equivalent hours of solar are very high and land is plentiful so efficiency doesn't matter), and the panels themselves are highly recyclable for the materials to make new panels.

Ever notice how the people 'concerned' about the environmental impact of mining rare earth minerals, which go into durable goods that are highly recyclable/recoverable, don't seem to have a problem with oil drilling, fracking, coal strip mining, etc - for something that is usable once, maybe twice?

[refulgentis]

This is true: i.e. they use rare metals not rare earth metals.

On HN, I hope we can share a correction like that respectfully: after all, they gave good info, except for a one-word slip of the tongue.

The critique seems to extend beyond correcting that error, becoming confrontational, questioning motivation and honesty with phrases like "supposedly worked in." and the long bit defending lifespan and enviromental impact against people who "don't seem to have a problem with oil drilling, fracking, coal strip mining, etc" - they didn't even touch on that subject.

[beanjuice]

Thank you for responding, I agree with your points, I did indeed make a mistake.

[pfdietz]

Which rare metals do they use? Silver for contact wires? If silver supplies were inadequate (they're not) these could be substituted for with copper, if a barrier layer was included between it and the silicon.

[gradschoolfail]

Maybe indium in ITO for those fancy transparent front contacts. Or tellurium in CdTe, supposedly still costeffective compared to “thick” Si cells. I would still give GGP a break it can be tricky to venture even small steps outside ones specialty these days

[pfdietz]

And, maybe in the future, gallium as a dopant in silicon cells, since it doesn't experience nearly as much light induced degradation as boron does. But dopants are used in very small amounts.

I think some power electronics uses europium silicide (or was that erbium?) as a gate material, so maybe in inverters? Again, the quantities would be small.