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Wind turbine blades are next to impossible to recycle or (at the scale we're talking about) re-purpose. 'What What happens to all the old wind turbines?' (bbc.

by Jedd 4y ago

Wind turbine blades are next to impossible to recycle or (at the scale we're talking about) re-purpose. 'What What happens to all the old wind turbines?' (bbc.co.uk) [2020] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22265321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22265321

natmaka 4y ago
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/cement-production-to-use-old-wind-turbine-blades-after-ge-inks-deal-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/cement-production-to-use-old... https://www.siemensgamesa.com/es-es/-/media/siemensgamesa/downloads/en/sustainability/environment/siemens-gamesa-recycablelblade-infographic-en.pdf https://www.siemensgamesa.com/es-es/-/media/siemensgamesa/do... https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/towards-circular-wind-turbines-lm-wind-power-to-produce-zero-waste-blades-by-2030 https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/towards-circular-wind...
stephen_g 4y ago
Even if that was always the case (I'm confident it won't be), compare it to, say, coal fly ash. In my country, coal ash is 1/5th of all waste generated (by weight, I think) over a year. 12 million metric tonnes per year [1]. And that's before even thinking about CO2 and other air pollutants. Wind turbine waste is almost nothing compared to that. Still worth fixing, but perspective is important. 1. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/coal-ash-has-become-one-of-australias-biggest-waste-problems/10886866 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/coal-ash-has-become-o...
- Jedd 4y ago
  Oh, I don't think this is a significant problem - and agree that the volume of this fairly inert waste product is trivial in comparison to the huge volumes of nasties that come out of fossil fuel power stations. I'm sure these turbine blades will likely continue to be iteratively re-designed to be increasingly recyclable or at least re-purposable as times goes on. I was just answering the question about remediation costs for wind turbines, as this feature of the current popular implementations is often a surprise.
duncanawoods 4y ago
There are 100% recyclable blades (including production byproducts) currently being tested. They are using Elium as the composite material which can be chemically broken down back into glass fibre and resin for reuse. https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/stories-and-press/stories/news-from-lm-places/zebra-project-achieves-key-milestone-with-first-prototype-of-recyclable-blade https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/stories-and-press/stories/new...

by Jedd 4y ago

natmaka 4y ago

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/cement-production-to-use-old-wind-turbine-blades-after-ge-inks-deal-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/cement-production-to-use-old... https://www.siemensgamesa.com/es-es/-/media/siemensgamesa/downloads/en/sustainability/environment/siemens-gamesa-recycablelblade-infographic-en.pdf https://www.siemensgamesa.com/es-es/-/media/siemensgamesa/do... https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/towards-circular-wind-turbines-lm-wind-power-to-produce-zero-waste-blades-by-2030 https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/towards-circular-wind...

stephen_g 4y ago

Even if that was always the case (I'm confident it won't be), compare it to, say, coal fly ash. In my country, coal ash is 1/5th of all waste generated (by weight, I think) over a year. 12 million metric tonnes per year [1]. And that's before even thinking about CO2 and other air pollutants. Wind turbine waste is almost nothing compared to that. Still worth fixing, but perspective is important. 1. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/coal-ash-has-become-one-of-australias-biggest-waste-problems/10886866 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/coal-ash-has-become-o...

Jedd 4y ago
Oh, I don't think this is a significant problem - and agree that the volume of this fairly inert waste product is trivial in comparison to the huge volumes of nasties that come out of fossil fuel power stations. I'm sure these turbine blades will likely continue to be iteratively re-designed to be increasingly recyclable or at least re-purposable as times goes on. I was just answering the question about remediation costs for wind turbines, as this feature of the current popular implementations is often a surprise.

duncanawoods 4y ago

There are 100% recyclable blades (including production byproducts) currently being tested. They are using Elium as the composite material which can be chemically broken down back into glass fibre and resin for reuse. https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/stories-and-press/stories/news-from-lm-places/zebra-project-achieves-key-milestone-with-first-prototype-of-recyclable-blade https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/stories-and-press/stories/new...