/sci/ - Science & Math

>>10122211
>>10123701
Almost all solar cells are made of silicon. This is not dangerous at all. Manufacturing in China could be problematic for environment because they don't care about this over there.
He might think of Gallium arsenide but this is rarely used because it's more expensive.
There are also Cadmium telluride cells, these got a market share of 5% and used in some large projects in the US. By themselves, cadmium and tellurium are toxic and carcinogenic, but CdTe forms a crystalline lattice that is highly stable, and is several orders of magnitude less toxic than cadmium. The glass plates surrounding CdTe material sandwiched between them (as in all commercial modules) seal during a fire and do not allow any cadmium release. So even this could just be "tossed in a ladfill" with no risk for environment.