[oil pan 4]

Alright I found extrusion specs for a 130mph rated panel frame.
The thin cross section is equal to a 100x1mm flat aluminum strip and a second heavier part would make a 13.6x2mm flat bit.
So the cross section is 127 square mm. That would be like a solid 11.2mm square rod running around the panel, just to give you an idea what that aluminum would look like all compacted together.

So a 250 watt panel would have about 6 liner meters of edges to protect.
That's 762 cc of aluminum.
The density of aluminum is 2.7 g/cm.
That equals 2,050g.
I believe I said that I thought a 250w panel had 2 to 3 kg of aluminum in the frame.

So let's say a 250w panel has a frame weighing 2kg.

Now we can say a 250 watt panel takes about 300kwh to make the glass and aluminum. I still think that's pretty good and is no where near what the panel will make over its life time.

That leaves the solar cells. It looks like mono are very energy intensive but CdTe thin film use a lot less energy to make.
Apparently thin film is where it's at for utility installs, residential installs tend to use mono.

I have almost unlimited space so I don't have to use high $ mono when I install panels.