[sdiy] Eu might be banning Vactrols and LDRs?? Cadmium in solar cells

[Robin Whittle]

Hi Cynthia,

You wrote:

> Is the chemistry of these anything like the chemistry of solar cells
> that generate power?
> Are they banning that which makes green power possible? Are there
> alternatives?

There is a prominent solar cell company:

  http://www.firstsolar.com

who make large area, low cost, low input energy cost, moderate efficiency
solar cell panels with glass and cadmium-telluride.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_telluride_photovoltaics

I assume that the cadmium falls foul of the EU ROHS laws, and I guess this
is the reason for their elaborate collection and recycling plan.  The
company was recently in the news because of plans to make a massive
project in China.


My impression of the ROHS regulations is that they are overzealous at
best and possibly more driven by commercial attempts to exclude products
from less developed countries.

As long lead-acid batteries are used in cars, UPS systems, burglar alarms
etc. there will be lead-acid batteries in landfills.  My guess is that
these large amounts of elemental lead would dwarf the lead in the 60/40
solder in discarded electronics.

The whole idea of trying to make landfill contents compatible with
drinking water seems nutty to me.  Metals are only part of the problem,
and there are an unknown and unknowable number of pollutants in general
rubbish.

  - Robin