Typical wind turbine and major components aluminum.
Rare earth minerals solar panels.
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Aluminum and rare earth elements.
To meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the paris agreement renewable energy production has to scale up fast.
This means that global production of several rare earth minerals used.
Just like solar cells wind turbines also rely on a few mineral commodities that have been designated as critical.
However a lack of rare earths does not mean that the components of solar modules are harmless.
Wind turbines increasingly dot the american landscape rising hundreds of feet in the air to capture electricity from the movement of the wind.
Experts have found that the rare metals required to build solar panels such as indium and tellurium are not in sufficient supply to keep up with demand.
However recent research coming out of the netherlands has spotted a red flag to relying on solar panels as a panacea for global emissions problems.