Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills – Bloomberg Green

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Al Bergstein

There are so many unintended consequences to any technology. This one mirrors the problems we have with disposing of fiberglass sailboats. Any solutions? Got a unique idea of how these will be recycled or reused?

Companies are searching for ways to deal with the tens of thousands of blades that have reached the end of their lives.

A wind turbine’s blades can be longer than a Boeing 747 wing, so at the end of their lifespan they can’t just be hauled away. First, you need to saw through the lissome fiberglass using a diamond-encrusted industrial saw to create three pieces small enough to be strapped to a tractor-trailer.

Bloomberg Green

Here’s a one minute video on the issue.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-02-06/why-thousands-of-wind-turbine-blades-wind-up-in-landfills-video

Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills?fbclid=IwAR2rl-bk4sbGj8fqsH3ZU8rpuwpXDC8ST_RO1nNYPqE9BEBqw5RvyL5HIO0

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Beyond “Earth Day” – Google Subsidizes Wind & Solar Power

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Al Bergstein

One of the most positive things I’ve read lately. A win for all of us. Now to get our Governor  to move on getting solar and wind integrated into *all* homes east of the Cascade Mountains (with obvious some exceptions).  That would be a real environmental win and not just political window dressing.

Just because Earth Day is over doesn’t mean we’re done doing good things for the planet. Yesterday we announced our biggest renewable energy purchase yet: an agreement with our Iowa utility partners to supply our data center facilities there with up to 407 megawatts of wind energy.

Today, we’re taking another step towards a clean energy future with a major new investment. Together withSunPower Corporation we’re creating a new $250 million fund to help finance the purchase of residential rooftop solar systems—making it easier for thousands of households across the U.S. to go solar. Essentially, this is how it works: Using the fund ($100 million from Google and $150 million from SunPower), we buy the solar panel systems. Then we lease them to homeowners at a cost that’s typically lower than their normal electricity bill. So by participating in this program, you don’t just help the environment—you can also save money.

This is our 16th renewable energy investment and our third residential rooftop solar investment (the others being with Solar City and Clean Power Finance). Overall we’ve invested more than $1 billion in 16 renewable energy projects around the world, and we’re always on the hunt for new opportunities to make more renewable energy available to more people—Earth Day and every day. 

Google Subsidizes Solar Panels to Homeowners

And this

You Can Now Invest in Your Neighbors’ Solar Energy Projects

Welcome to the latest innovation in renewable energy: The crowdsourced solar loan.

This all goes to show that our greatest tool in the human toolbox is our capacity to come up with new ideas. We may yet figure out new ways to get us through global warming and the acidification of the oceans.

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