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Some turbine facts for reference For a typical onshore wind turbine, the tower can contain approximately 295 tons of steel The concrete footings are usually 9
by Baldbvrhunter 3y ago
Some turbine facts for reference
For a typical onshore wind turbine, the tower can contain approximately 295 tons of steel
The concrete footings are usually 9 feet thick and 60 feet in diameter, requiring about 300 cubic yards of concrete, which is equivalent to 30 to 40 truckloads.
The blades have a 20 year lifespan and cannot be recycled, being made from fiberglass reinforced with plastic, also known as glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). With newer ones also incorporating carbon fiber.
All that said, for a turbine to produce enough clean electricity to offset the carbon emissions produced during its manufacturing, installation, and maintenance, is typically around 7 to 8 months.
- cjbenedikt 3y ago"....to offset the carbon emissions produced during its manufacturing, installation, and maintenance, is typically around 7 to 8 months." Finally a clear statement. Never found one like that for DAC. Massive steel and concrete buildings and no answer to exactly that question: how long does it take to recover the CO2 footprint of building these structures.
- Baldbvrhunter 3y agofor wind turbines https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/06/whats-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-wind-turbine/ https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/06/whats-the-carbon-... https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/explore/journal/uniting-environment-and-technology https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/explore/journal/uniting...
- Xiol32 3y agoUnfortunely it seems these 'wooden turbines' also use fibreglass blades, which is a shame.
- mschild 3y agoNot all of them. https://electrek.co/2022/11/16/wind-turbines-made-entirely-of-wood-are-coming/ https://electrek.co/2022/11/16/wind-turbines-made-entirely-o...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- adwi 3y agoVery interesting. On average how long until financial break-even, in terms of total investment vs value of electricity produced/sold?
- internetter 3y agoDepends on the site. In the best sites, something like 3 years. In the worst sites, never. Usually, something like 6-10 years.
- CapitalistCartr 3y agoSixty feet in dia. x 9 feet thick is about 950 yards.
- jetrink 3y agoThey are more cone-shaped than cylindrical. 1. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Illustration-of-the-reinforced-concrete-wind-turbine-foundation-studied-in-this-work_fig1_321907910 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Illustration-of-the-rein...
- Faaak 3y agoIMHO we should also look at EROI (energy return on investment), which Wikipedia cites [0] to be around ~20, that is a wind turbine will produce 20 times what it cost to make it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment#Wind_turbines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment#Wi...
- jauntywundrkind 3y agoThe point here that the wooden wind turbine is carbon negative is also a good one (where-as steel and concrete are a big carbon positive) is also worth tracking. I do wish I had a little better idea what the costs of wood were. There have to be nutrients and other resources consumed, that wood takes to produce. I'd love to better appreciate the material flow of wood.
- Brybry 3y agoAlso since it's laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and glued laminated timber (GLT) [1] it's going to have resins/adhesives involved that have an impact as well. Probably still better than the cement in concrete but I don't have a source for that. [1] https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1660496/windtech-why-wood-works-modular-low-carbon-towers#:~:text=Erik%20D%C3%B6lerud https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1660496/windtech-wh...
- sandworm101 3y agoBy weight, much of that wood is actually glue. The structure is wood fiber held together by chemcial glues. It isnt a tree. It isnt a hand-carved covered bridge. It is an engineered structure filled with modern bits and pieces made out of not-wood.
- dylan604 3y agoI don't know if your listing these as "fun" facts, or as a means to try to denigrate wind turbines. If it pays for itself in 7-8 months while operating for 20 years that's 3% of its lifespan. That's 232 months of clean energy being generated. That's impressive to me. So I don't know what your intent is here, but I'm on board for all of it as a good thing
- russdill 3y agoThat and it's just the lifetime rating for the blades, not the foundation, tower, and hub
- sandworm101 3y agoI would presume that the tower and its foundations, like a large bridge, are functionally immortal. They sound like they should remain useful for a century or more. In such cases the initial carbon cost of construction shouldn't be much of a factor.
- gonzo41 3y agoThe reinforcement in the footing will eventually corrode and so will the tower (even with the best preventative maintenance). The sea likes to ablate things. But I'm sure the engineers are building extra life into the foundations so they can replace the blades every 20 years, and do the tower every 40 at last a few times.
- Baldbvrhunter 3y agohonestly - I was compiling the facts thinking it was going to be much more time for ROI and was happy to have my assumptions invalidated. I'm pro-wind turbine though.
- justin66 3y agoI'm puzzled by these comments. It might take well over a decade for a turbine to truly "pay for itself," depending local energy rates and how the project was financed. If you were to put it in the wrong place, there's no guarantee it will ever pay for itself. (not that a wind turbine was ever built for political rather than hard-headed economic reasons - that never happens!)
- dukeyukey 3y ago> and cannot be recycled This myth just won't disappear. Fiberglass isn't easy to recycle, but we absolutely can and do: https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/carbon-rivers-makes-wind-turbine-blade-recycling-and-upcycling-reality-support https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/carbon-rivers-make... https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/newsroom/2021/09/launch-world-first-recyclable-wind-turbine-blade https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/newsroom/2021/09/launch... https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/can-wind-turbine-blades-be-recycled https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/can-wi...
- c048 3y agoA lot of things deemed 'unrecyclable' actually are. It's just that it's usually not worth it.
- tcbawo 3y agoAs is often the case, “nobody will do it at market rates” simply becomes “can’t”
- andrewflnr 3y agoFor planning purposes, "will not be recycled in real life" is indistinguishable from "cannot be recycled".
- colechristensen 3y agoBut who cares? If you grind up and bury fiberglass, you’re sequestering carbon and melted sand. I’m fine with this. People intentionally burying carbon do so to celebration when they’re doing it on purpose and selling carbon credits.
- p1mrx 3y ago> The blades have a 20 year lifespan What stops us from making blades with a 60 year lifespan?
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- dylan604 3y agoit would be interesting if this is a material science issue where UV exposure just breaks things down to the point that after a certain point they are just unsafe from to be spinning at the rates and mass involved. that's a lot of kinetic energy if an unscheduled rapid disassembly were to occur.
- tuatoru 3y agoYes, it's a material science issue. With stronger materials they would just make the blades longer because the power produced is proportional to the square of blade length (or cube?). Anyway, the blades will be at the limits of material strength (over a reasonable lifetime).
- coryrc 3y agoAblation is one problem, fatigue is another.