Wind Turbine Blades buried

[SailRedemption]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Another innovative, though small scale, solution:
Wikado Playground (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) is Built From Recycled Wind Turbine Blades
➥ https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...ig13_268214857




See also:
“Research and guidance on restoration and decommissioning of onshore wind farms"
➥ https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ore_wind_farms

I saw that too! I was discussing this with someone else who had mentioned making public pavilions or homeless shelters with them. I mean they are 300' long and you could stack them like shingles or fronds on a tiki hut. These people need to think outside of the box a little more and stop burying the things.

[mlydon]

use them for fencing.....maybe Trump can use them in the border wall....

[jimbunyard]

Reminds me of the often-featured picture of the armed forces pushing helicopters off ships at the end of the Vietnamese war...

A picture in the Bloomberg article shows how 'serious' the thought going into recycling, at least in this instance, has been.

If that's a normal supersize turbine blade, that metal ring with about 50 probably at least 2" x 12" studs (on one side), with a diameter of about ten feet and a cross section of at least 2" x 6" has a significant scrap value, even if made from mild steel. Given the lack of corrosion, I would assume that the quality of the metal used in it's construction is a bit higher than mild steel...

As for using them as reefs, these are aerodynamic structures; among their primary design characteristics are strength and lightness. If I remember correctly, they're mostly made of polyurethane foam, epoxy resin and a combination of carbon and glass fiber. Hence it is very likely that they float, perhaps not the best choice for a reef material.

Probably the best use, as has been amply illustrated already, is as second-hand terrestrial structures; containers, shelters, playground equipment, the possibilities are endless. Around here they could be cut into 10-15' lengths as small animal shelters. Rabbits, possums, young alligators, armadillos, bobcats, innumerable reptiles and insects all love living in and under old fiberglass boats, can't see much difference in them and old blades...

As for "In essence...we’ve traded a few kilowatts of electricity for a poisonous non-degradable material polluting the earth forever.", ever heard of any 'poisonous non-degradable material polluting the earth forever' associated with fossil fuels or even just the production of them? At least when used in the production of turbine blades (resins are mostly hydrocarbon-based) the carbon is not immediately injected back into the atmosphere, indeed in the long run (and looked at holistically), the locking up of said carbon could be seen as a bad thing (since life is carbon-based).

But not as bad as atmospherizing 100 million years worth of carbon in 2 centuries...

And some back-of-the-envelope numbers for the capitalists. South Louisiana electricity goes for about 9.53 cents per kilowatt hour. So 95.30/megawatt hour. A typical 1 megawatt turbine goes for about about 2 million. If it operates at rated output 50% of the year (I've no idea what it actually is), the equipment is paid for in 5 years (1/2 of 8760 x 95.30 = 417,414.00 x 5 = 2,087,070). After that, less maintenance and whatever other overhead costs incurred, it's free electricity. At least to the owners of the turbine...

Wonder how, as a equal-opportunity inhabitant (oops!, capitalist) of the planet, I get my cut from the wind those turbine owners use to run them???

[CaptTom]

The article mentioned all kinds of great ideas for reclaiming or re-using the materials or energy from these blades. Sure, the pictures provided an uncomfortable reminder of the scale of human impact on the Earth. But I'm not ready to do my part to reduce the population.

So I take the whole thing as a net positive. We got a lot of free energy from these things, now we're learning how to make use of them when they've reached the end of their useful life. Admittedly, we're just starting to learn, but I'm confident we'll get there.

Better still, if we succeed in re-using these materials, maybe we'll be able to use the same processes on boats. That'll make me, personally, feel a little better.

[Discovery 15797]

I stand corrected, and indeed was a little over- zealous in my “poisonous non-degradable” comment.

Also, I am not against wind power generation. Currently, the US leads in this area, and is growing. There are more than 57,000 wind turbines in the US that generate 6.94% of the total electricity produced. Coupled with solar, the energy production combined was just under 10%.

Also, the discussion was solely on turbine blades, and not a comparison with naturally occurring materials used to produce energy. Those comparisons are used to obfuscate the problem at hand imho.

My comments were a visceral reaction to the seemingly limited forethought by manufacturers and the government regarding how to deal with the waste that is produced as these things wear out.

CaptTom likely has more faith in the govt than I, but I still have some hope. ��

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Discovery 15797

CaptTom likely has more faith in the govt than I, but I still have some hope. ��

I do think the government isn't as bad as some make it out to be. There are a lot of good civil servants trying to do the right thing. It's just that the bad ones make the news.

But, in this case, my faith is in private enterprise. The article mentioned a number of ways being tried. Someone will find a way to make a buck. I personally liked the idea of grinding them up and using the materials to make flooring.