After you have manufactured the turbine, dug the big foundation filled with concrete, run the cabling to the storage batteries and installed it all, only then does it become clean. It will whirr away, cleanly making electricity when the wind blows. Occasional maintenance and repairs on average will not take it out of the clean category. I say on average, because there have been several occasions when they have caught fire, belching thick black smoke in to the atmosphere. Compared to the number of turbines in use, this is a rare occurrence, so clean it is.

Nothing Lasts Forever

But, they do not last for ever, they will need to be completely dismantled and replaced. More batteries will need to be made, with all the environmental problems that gathering materials for them bring. New blades, new tower and new generator. Much of this can be recycled, but the blades are a big problem.

Recycling Wind Turbine Blades Problem

Strathclyde university, Glasgow, Scotland, UK estimates that by 2050, worldwide, we will have to deal with 2 Million Tonnes of wind turbine blades every year.

2 Million Tonnes Of Wind Turbine Blades Every Year.

The cost of properly recycling all the materials from wind power is not included in the given cost of generating the electricity. It is more favourable for anti fossil fuel supporters to only cost the manufacture, installation and ongoing maintenance of the turbine. They choose to forget about recycling the materials as if when built, the turbine will last for ever. This is ignored because the price per unit of electricity would then be much higher than fossil fuels and much less popular for consumers.

Costly To Recycle

The material is currently very difficult (read costly) to recycle. It is a composite composition usually made from plastic and glass fibre, difficult to separate. The size and hollow structure of the blades make logistics difficult.

Small Scale Re-use Projects

There are some clever re-use ideas, for example in Ireland, they have designed wind turbine blades in to the structure of pedestrian bridges. The result is a delay in the recycling of the blades by the lifetime of the astatically pleasing and practical bridge. Genius idea, resulting in less steel and concrete.

This is all cosy and nice, but unless we are going to have a lot of new bridges and the like everywhere, we really need to work out how to cheaply turn the old blades back in to new blades. Until then, it's hard to give the wind power industry the green label it currently has.

Wind is definitely renewable. The wind will blow when nature decides, regardless of our actions or use.

Not Green

Wind Power is renewable and cleaner than fossil fuels, but we have work to do before it is green.

About The Author
Urian Udell
Chewells Contributor

Urian is passionate about carbon capture. He is a staunch believer in the continued use of oil... »

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Replies

• Tom (Feb 15, 2024)
  Not green or clean initially
• Jane Duncan (Feb 10, 2024)
  There is no such thing as 100% green. Wind Power is far cleaner and greener than fossil fuels.

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