Tool
What would it take?
Pick a technology and a quantity. The calculator multiplies out the material bill and puts each total next to the entire world’s annual production of that material — which is usually the number that changes how the answer feels.
10,000,000 × Cadmium Telluride Thin-Film Module — A solar panel a few microns thick, using no silicon at all.
Quantities are per MW of capacity indicative range tonnes of contained material
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Material | Per unit | Total, low | Total, high | World annual production | Share of a year’s supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminium | 3,000–7,000 kg | 30.00 million t | 70.00 million t | 74.00 million tSmelter production, 2025 | 94.6% |
| Soda Ash | 1,500–3,000 kg | 15.00 million t | 30.00 million t | 19.00 million tMine production: natural, rounded, 2025 | 157.9% |
| Cadmium | 25.00–60.00 kg | 250,000 t | 600,000 t | 23,000 tRefinery production, 2025 | 2608.7% |
| Tellurium Scale is limited by copper-refining by-product supply. | 25.00–60.00 kg | 250,000 t | 600,000 t | 1,000 tRefinery production, 2025 | 60000.0% |
Intensity ranges are indicative, compiled from published technology studies and chemistry — not a manufacturer specification. World production is USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, 2025 (estimated), converted to tonnes of the same basis where the source reports thousands of tonnes or kilograms · source ↗. This is an educational order-of-magnitude tool. It is not a procurement estimate and must not be used as one.