So we hear people complaining wind turbine blades supposedly can't be recycled.
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@hyc @bert_hubert I thought they were saying that about solar panels... The debate I've heard about wind is that it kills birds and that it creates noise. Never have I heard that their blades aren't recycleable... I'm just saying I can see where they're coming from if current tech is (toxic) glass/carbon fiber bonded with (toxic) resin. The question is whether production would ever be that large to make any relevant difference when decommissioned in however many decades...
@petko @hyc @bert_hubert The blades as non-recyclable is a big part of the debate for some people because some countries (Austria, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands) have legally binding bans in place that stop you from sending blades to landfill. So the question is, what to do with them. Big players are thinking about this but there isn’t a standard solution.
(Not commenting on the rest of the debate here, just for clarity)
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So we hear people complaining wind turbine blades supposedly can't be recycled. This isn't true, but even if it were: over its lifetime, a large wind turbine (11MW, offshore), will generate the electrical equivalent of burning ~200,000 tons of coal in an efficient thermal power plant. The total weight of these terrible blades? 100 tons. So spare me the whining.
@bert_hubert A neighbour got into an argument with me about my electric car's battery and the way its production is harmful to the environment and how this harm will never be offsetted over its lifetime compared to the long life a fossil fuel car.
The two-person household of that same neighbour and his wife owns five different fossil fuel cars parked on their property.
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So we hear people complaining wind turbine blades supposedly can't be recycled. This isn't true, but even if it were: over its lifetime, a large wind turbine (11MW, offshore), will generate the electrical equivalent of burning ~200,000 tons of coal in an efficient thermal power plant. The total weight of these terrible blades? 100 tons. So spare me the whining.
@bert_hubert friends of mine reused the nacelle of a turbine and built a tinyhouse of it: https://www.superuse-studios.com/projectplus/nestle/
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@bert_hubert at our firm we partnered with KoiosTitan from Maastricht (https://koiostitan.com/nl/) to recycle the turbine blades from our windfarm at Sint Annapolder. Not easy but we are pioneering, things will become easier over time. So we definitely will be recycling turbine blades going forward. Article in Dutch: https://www.dekleurvangeld.nl/artikelen/2026/van-windturbineblad-tot-bouwmateriaal-een-circulaire-oplossing-met-toekomst
@woutervanmaanen Would your firm be interested in supplying decommissioned blades for a pilot project focused on building first small and hopefully later bigger boats out of the blades composit materials? For a while now we've been looking for someone willing to provide us with the material ( one or couple of blades depending on the size) to create a proof of concept, unfortunately we've been hitting a wall at first contact.
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So we hear people complaining wind turbine blades supposedly can't be recycled. This isn't true, but even if it were: over its lifetime, a large wind turbine (11MW, offshore), will generate the electrical equivalent of burning ~200,000 tons of coal in an efficient thermal power plant. The total weight of these terrible blades? 100 tons. So spare me the whining.
@bert_hubert @kevin
Just make the blades out of coal, then everybody's happy. -
@bert_hubert A neighbour got into an argument with me about my electric car's battery and the way its production is harmful to the environment and how this harm will never be offsetted over its lifetime compared to the long life a fossil fuel car.
The two-person household of that same neighbour and his wife owns five different fossil fuel cars parked on their property.
In line with Bert's calculation:
* A fossil fuel car weights 1500kg and will last for 200.000km; that will burn roughly 8000 kg of fuel. To get that fuel into the car, another 4000 to 8000kg needs to be burned. Total weight: 14.000 kg or more
* A battery electric vehicle weights 2200kg; batteries can be recycled. -
@woutervanmaanen Would your firm be interested in supplying decommissioned blades for a pilot project focused on building first small and hopefully later bigger boats out of the blades composit materials? For a while now we've been looking for someone willing to provide us with the material ( one or couple of blades depending on the size) to create a proof of concept, unfortunately we've been hitting a wall at first contact.
@aliensintransit no clue, can you DM some details on this? Then I can check with people involved in this project.
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@bert_hubert friends of mine reused the nacelle of a turbine and built a tinyhouse of it: https://www.superuse-studios.com/projectplus/nestle/
@stf what a nice thing to see
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