European Parliament exempts renewables from cadmium ban
The European Parliament has voted to exempt the solar industry and all other renewable technologies from a ban on the use of cadmium in the electronics industry. It is a victory for First Solar, the giant US company that is the biggest user of cadmium telluride in its thin-film panels, although the exclusion will be subject to a Commission review in 2014.

Comment: First Solar must have been worried. Apparently they were even considering moving into CIGS: [From Reuters] First Solar Inc, the world's largest thin-film solar panel producer, has set up a Silicon Valley lab for a thin-film technology [CIGS] with the potential for higher efficiency at a lower cost (...) First Solar acknowledged on Thursday it has a small research and development unit in Silicon Valley but declined to comment further.