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Solar power’s need for a carbon-intensive metal is set to soar

The shift to clean energy is expected to drive the demand for aluminium, which is used in the frames and fittings of solar panels.
A worker in protective gear removes bars of aluminium from a casting machine at Rusal's Bratsk Aluminium Smelter.

A worker at an aluminium smelter in Bratsk, Russia. Many aluminium plants consume vast amounts of coal-fired energy. Credit: Alexander Ryumin/TASS via Getty

A paradox plagues solar energy: it is key to slowing climate change, but solar installations require aluminium, the mining and processing of which releases vast amounts of greenhouse gases.

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Nature 602, 10 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00176-6

References

  1. Lennon, A., Lunardi, M., Hallam, B. & Dias, P. R. Nature Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00838-9 (2022).

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