Greenland tensions harden Europe's push for energy independence

Re:Greenland tensions harden Europe's push for energy indepe... by spwa4 on Monday February 02, 2026 @02:54PM (#46860489)

Solar panels contain quite a bit of lead, and small amounts of cadmium. Lead can be taken out if you're willing to pay a bit more, in other words it never is. Cadmium is required. Other metals are sometimes present.

So solar panels are classified as hazardous waste.

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Re:Greenland tensions harden Europe's push for energy indepe... by philipkglass on Monday February 02, 2026 @03:45PM (#46861267)

Cadmium is only required in cadmium telluride solar panels, which have less than 5% global market share. Lead solder is still common in crystalline silicon panels, though not universal; modules built with heterojunction cells typically avoid solder because the cells can't tolerate temperatures that high:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pip.3688

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