EV batteries currently can’t be recycled either, and they’re going to pile up in landfills. Perhaps people should stop clutching their pearls and work towards recycling tech. Or is this a bunch of prose from oil/gas folks hoping to stall change?
This is actually going to be a big deal someday. Maybe it's already a big deal.
For example, Texas has massive wind farms and thankfully a lot of land that doesn't really do anything.
But these wing graveyards are going to continue to grow and grow, and "renewable energy" seems to require 100% recycling without extra CO2 release as an inherent and basic principle.
Having waste on specific location on the ground is not equal to having waste on the atmosphere.
There are so little constraints to landfills that we might not go to recycle wind blades in the future :
"Windmill blades can be recycled," Karl Englund, CTO of Global Fiberglass Solutions and associate research professor at Washington State University, told USA TODAY. “We have proven that over and over again.”
> “Wind turbine blades at the end of their operational life are landfill-safe, unlike the waste from some other energy sources, and represent a small fraction of overall U.S. municipal solid waste,” according to an emailed statement from [American Wind Energy Association]. It pointed to an Electric Power Research Institute study that estimates all blade waste through 2050 would equal roughly .015% of all the municipal solid waste going to landfills in 2015 alone.
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[ 5.4 ms ] story [ 65.4 ms ] threadThe manufacturers are alos working on to recycle, so this will come https://www.ge.com/news/reports/second-life-this-plant-will-....
This article is skewed!
But those darn batteries just won't break as fast as some petrolheads predicted, they are still holding up long after 150.000 km and more.
Not to mention second life uses, like grid- and homestorage, which will drive up the time for when you really want to recycle an EV battery.
For example, Texas has massive wind farms and thankfully a lot of land that doesn't really do anything.
But these wing graveyards are going to continue to grow and grow, and "renewable energy" seems to require 100% recycling without extra CO2 release as an inherent and basic principle.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sweetwater,+TX+79556/@32.4...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09213...
"Windmill blades can be recycled," Karl Englund, CTO of Global Fiberglass Solutions and associate research professor at Washington State University, told USA TODAY. “We have proven that over and over again.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90727497/in-ireland-old-wind-tur....
> “Wind turbine blades at the end of their operational life are landfill-safe, unlike the waste from some other energy sources, and represent a small fraction of overall U.S. municipal solid waste,” according to an emailed statement from [American Wind Energy Association]. It pointed to an Electric Power Research Institute study that estimates all blade waste through 2050 would equal roughly .015% of all the municipal solid waste going to landfills in 2015 alone.