Unprofitable doesn't mean "scam" in all cases. As long as the overall benefits exceed the overall costs it's fine. Non-monetary costs and benefits are hard to judge, but trading otherwise idle human labor for reduced resource usage at a small monetary loss seems OK to me. Collecting the stuff now also encourages companies to develop new uses for recycled materials. I'd give plastic recycling another decade or so to see if that happens. And of course aluminum is highly profitable, and I imagine they also make a small profit on steel.
@@kgilliagorilla2761 Unnecessary plastic everywhere, on items that could be in cardboard or basically unpackaged. At least they're mostly using cardboard and paper for fill now instead of Styrofoam packing peanuts.
The problem has never been to find something to do with the carcass ... it's to find something to do with the carcass that doesn't cost more than it's worth. That's always been the problem with recycling ... finished products suck as raw ore.
Astute comment. As I watched this video I kept thinking; "what is the cost of recycling?" True, any alternative to discarding used wind turbine blades into landfills is preferable but recycling them will never happen if people with money to invest don't see a profit in it. And trust me, people with money to invest are seldom hoodwinked.
If reuse cost is built into the electricity cost it's not a problem. A profitable solution would be nice. Utilities or any other business never want to be told how they need to be responsible.
I prefer the old-fashioned way of recycling--reuse stuff. If you've got room-long hollow blades sturdy enough to resist hurricanes, think of the well-insulated walls that you could make with that! If our forefathers could make walls out of logs, surely this would be much easier! Or take segments and cut holes in them to turn them into animal shelters. Or pierce them, bury them and turn them into a watering system. Or all kinds of options. You don't have to go through all of the trouble to grind them up and reconstitute them.
@@DoloresJNurss, Agree they should investigate for the ways that have the least added cost/labor resulting in usable products, bering in mind if it is a final product or a product for use in producing something(s)else. Which the latter seems their only focus, given materials change less than shapes I can see that.
As someone who has built the blades and been inside them while on a turbine, I've always thought they should be used for infrastructure or construction. You could build some sick skatepark features with a wind turbine blade
I was wondering about that. I am concerned about microplastics, but all that space inside must be good for something. Maybe indoor parks could use them more readily. What about using them to protect underground cables?
It's high time that we require manufacturers to have a recycling/reuse plan for everything they manufacture. It should not be an after-thought, especially with items this massive.
That would require a cost increase on the front end of a product ! So there goes the so called affordable green energy which is already a joke and those wind things are . . UGLY !
@@mindyobidness9554Do you think the cost to figure out how to dispose them isn't factored in to green energy costs? I guess you think reactive plans are netter than proactive ones. I hope you never were a manager.
This sounds great - until you think about it. How would you even start to tackle that? What do you do for construction materials that are supposed to be in place for decades, if not centuries. What do you do with consumables? So dumb.
How much *energy* is required to recycle a blade? That does not begin to add other costs like labor. Who pays for these things? Is there a pay-off beyond feel-good tingles?
Watch it again, and pay attention this time. That's why a $75K grant was given to study the feasibility. The companies that erect the turbines should be responsible for their disassembly and removal. They were the ones reaping untold riches selling overpriced electricity.
@@brianbassett4379 The best option I believe is to add an environmental charge to every option of energy generation method including Nuclear and gas fired plants and coal fired plants ,solar p[panels for the cost of recycling the materials used. Then we would really see the cost of electricity generation instead of the subsidized costs of some but not others. The amount to recycle a Nuclear power plant is insane, and needs to be factored into the costs of the electricity it generates. We should not leave these messes to the next generation to fix. Nothing comes for free except the wind and sun, but utilizing anything has a cost. My province is still spending money to clean up Uranium mines from WW2 at great costs to tax payers.
Interesting fact about plastics, and probably fiber glass, because they are both petroleum based, every time it is heated for production of a product the molecular structure breaks down losing strength and durability, that is why they have to add in virgin material. Sometimes as much as 70% .only items that are of no structural consequence can use 100% recycled materials 🤔
Wait, wait wait. Hang on a minute. They can’t be petroleum based we’re doing away with that industry. How come we are still using it to fund and support the renewable energy process?😂
@@malcolmwhite6588 We aren't going to stop using oil and nobody ever said that. What we are trying to do is quit burning it. The more of it we burn the higher the price goes on the other products, not accounting for price gouging that is.
@@cyclewisconsin105 when you say, nobody says that we should stop burning, oil ,that’s not correct. Many politicians have expressed a desire to completely shut down the petrochemical and oil and gas industry. However, you quite rightly state, a couple of things : there is benefit to be burning less oil for sure, and also price gouging goes on as it sadly does in many essential industries, including of course the electricity industry
I believe they did that for cost, aluminum lasts longer than 20 years and it is 100% recyclable, we have things (planes ships ), etc. that are 80 years old and still operational.
Trying to recycle something like that will never be a net positive. It may not be 'simple math' but it's not that difficult to calculate the ROI. Engineering schools used to have business as pre-req classes.
I visited the Munich Science Museum this year. The hall of Power and Engines has an interesting exhibit, sections of a very-large wind turbine blade, sawed into sections, spaced and suspended from the ceiling. You get to see the interiors of the various sections and get a sense of how long the blades are and how intricately they are made. Impressive.
What about the root sections of the blades? Are they large enough to create mini shelters for the homeless? Two roots bonded together and capped at each end could possibly creat a livable shelter.
Agreed. They could turn the large ends into storage sheds or lockers. As for the tapered ends, those could be repurposed into some kind of awning to provide shade.
@@lauramichele474 not really, they are made from composite fiberglass and maybe carbon fiber. Storm shelters must be able to stop a 2 x 4 lumber stud launched out of a special cannon at over 200 miles per hour into it walls and doors and survive a dead weight fall of at least 500 pounds from a distance of ten feet.
reusing the material for lower strength requirement applications is a great idea. i would take the round part and make rain water tank for my orchard 🙂
@@DAVID-io9nj rain water collecting is something that should happen at every house. most of the water we use can easily be rain water but we use drinking water to do it all. it is mindbogglingly stupid. i have over 20kgal of underground tanks, and i am a small 1 acre orchard. large orchards and farms could gobble these up if the costs could be reasonable. these look like they would last forever.
@@SilvaDreams they are being taken down because they cannot meet structural requirements of a turbine which are many orders of magnitude more stringent than underground tanks which also get no more uv and will fare better protected.
Balsa wood, if used in these is about the only renewable material because more trees can be planted. Fiberglass and steel aren’t renewable as they are not grown, but are man made. And made from natural resources that are in a finite amount. Iron ore and whatever fiberglass resin is made of do not grow wild and don’t replenish themselves. Not much in the world that is used in manufacturing is sustainable besides wood and plant based items like cotton. Lithium and Cobalt are not and will run out in time if they continue to be used at the rate they are, just like gold, silver, copper and diamonds. Diamonds can form over time, but at a rate no where close to how fast they’re being mined.
These blades do not last 20 years because the tips are traveling at close to 200 mph. Every dust grain, pellet of ice and even rain drops take a toll. The speed is deceiving that is why they kill so many birds.
This is a lot of s***we've got a 20-year high ice pack at the Arctic up there right now it's never been so much ice on the Arctic circle in 20 years if Maine's weather is changing that it's only getting colder
Please tell me where you got these facts from? When you the Glaciers you can see where the ice was in the 70's and where it is now. Major rivers in Canada that are fed by glaciers in the summer. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had receded a distance of 1,364 metres (4,475 ft), with the rate of retreat between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging 55 metres (180 ft) per year.[1
@@crzy11000 because, of course, all that human activity between 1948 and 1953! Most of us don’t deny climate might be changing, the real point is, you can’t possibly prove that humans are the cause. But more importantly all of the trillions of $$$ the greenies force the poor to spend make absolutely not a millionth of a degree difference and all the money is just lining your own pockets.
The Balsa wood is valuable. Like the majority of Balsa wood, It will be cut out and used to insulate aircraft and luxury vehicles. Strong, light Balsa is hard to find and is expensive. Structural Balsa usually gets replaced by carbon fiber. Spruce is a close second to Balsa.
if the ground up plastics and fibers can be used in 3D pprinters then they might be able to be used in some kind of plastic welding as well. sections could be cut out of old blades and reused as stock to make other things. my DIY frankenstein kayak was made from alot of plastic welding and scraps and has held up for years. one just has to learn some plastiic welding. with the right scraps and stock and creativity there is much you can do.
@FrankensteinDIYkayak really? Since you cant simply remelt it to extrude a filament i would of thought it would be more difficult. Aside from the cnc machines abilities. Just the process of breaking it down to reuse sounds insanely non cost-effective.
@@FrankensteinDIYkayakThe material recycled in this video is used as a filler in the printing filament. The fibres (even though chopped) will add strength, while the ground up epoxy with detract too much. But, back to your idea.. If parts can be milled from the blades (the swarf sent for use in this video), those parts can be glued together since even old epoxy glues well.
50 years after the fact. How many Millions of discarded blades around the USA and the world? They have a tall order to fill better get cracking. And after that how about all the millions of dead solar panels showing up in our landfills as we speak? Another farce to fool the public.
That would be an interesting idea, but there are several environmental considerations... these are PLATICS... will they outgas micro particles or hazardous gasses?... what happens when they catch FIRE?... HAVE YOU SEEN THE POLLUTION they spew out when on fire?... It would have to be impregnated or coated with a fireproofing agent... This could be the New Lead Paint issue... Grinding up the blades would put tons of micro plastic dust into the air... and I'm not an environmentalist... I'm sure they will come up with many more problems...
People should compare wind turbine waste to coal ash waste. In the US, 1 kWh of electricity from coal produces 0.1785 lb of ash. A 2.5 to 3 MW turbine averages 6 million kWh per year. So a 200 ton wind turbine can offset 10,000 tons of coal ash waste.
How much and where does the energy source come from to grid up these blades ? How long did the old windmills in the Netherlands last ? There are still lots of metal windmills from the 30s that still function for water pumping . We don’t seem to learn.
So, they're using the fibers from the composite windmill components as fillers for new composites. If they're shredded, they have no tensile strength, so then they're used for CMU or additive manufacturing (3D printing) where compressive loads are typical. But then, that opens up use of materials such as gravel or sand. Hard to believe this material can be cheaper to use than sand. And in Texas, we have (currently) 15,000 wind turbines. Who's going to pay to dismantle, cut up and ship 45,000 blades to a recycling plant? With inflation, shipping costs are insane these days. Need to make sure the economics is SUSTAINABLE.
@@minimaladjacent How about those huge fiberglass blades that are only good for 20 years that are filling the landfills? They're not recyclable. How about when the wind that is outside the operating limits of 7-27 mph? Did you know in the field of energy generation windmills is the most deadly to human beings? I don't think you would know any of this because you're just a dumb greenie.
how much energy will be required to recycle those things vs how much the wind turbine actually made? i don't think anyone believes they last 20 years. i read the maintenance alone on them more than used up the energy they made.
Only 20 years? Wow that’s nothing. There at old metal windmills over 100+ years old still working. Heck even asphalt shingles last longer. Who’s making these things?
buildings, oil, gas and nuclear industries kill more birds,... birds avoid the turbines. old style of putting them staggered and close together caused the issue. used to live near dozens of turbines and watch the migrating birds avoid them also a study done... is the birds changed their migration pattern to avoid them.
No way it will be cost effective. This is just more greenwashing. Cutting them down to regular truck trailer length and using them as some sort of structured fill or pass through is probably the best you'll do.
Composite turbines, supposed to use a hazmat suit and respirator when ever they are damaged (why they can't recycle them) so lets show the world it's cool to touch the ruff composite....
As the material ages and is used the material fatigues and eventually weakens like any other material. Wood, metal, even stone eventually wear down over time, the only question is how long it takes.
@@briandeiwert5911 Aluminum airplane propellers are in service after many, many decades. True, not always rotating, but in an otherwise harsh environment.
@@frequentlycynical642 airplane propeller blades are also typically around 4-8 feet in length. Wind turbine blades are around 150-200 feet in length. I suspect the extra length introduces more wear to the entire structure. Also an aluminum wind turbine blade of that size would be insanely heavy compared to the composite materials used now.
What wears out blades? The new money for profits for the selected suppliers who benefit from replacing the blades. Planned obsolescence and opportunistic "depreciation" are awfully destructive forces.
Reading the replies, seems folks clearly understand that beyond the hype of beneficial reuse comes the economic impacts. The law of diminishing returns has a huge impact on the hopeful rhetoric of recycling. Worth noting, the cost of recycling never includes the environmental impacts that inevitably result. The ruse of "renewable energy" omits the fact that using the renewable part is not the part we use, and the equipment required to convert require minerals and other materials including hydrocarbons.
*THESE BLADES ARE TINY* and there are very few of them - the newer blades are so big we cut them up for classrooms, bike shelters, home offices for the garden etc over here in the EU As soon as you guys in the US catch up on the turbine technology there will be waiting lists for the blades...!!!
what they dont talk about is the power requirements to break down the blades and then to print new items. will need two to three turbines just for that ...sad cause we have the power answer and its more environmental friendly ie green energy nuclear power thorium liquid salt reactors
I clicked on this thinking immediately, it better not be a fuckin house conversation, gonna watch and find out, brb- Phew... It wasnt tiny homes. Had me worried for a sec.
It’s not a replacement for petroleum, those blades are made mostly from petroleum, it’s just a reuse of it. I hope somebody has an aha moment and is successful in finding the perfect use for them!
All sounds nice, but I doubt it will be fully used. The cost of recycling is too high for companies to actually use. Same reason plastic product makers prefer virgin plastic raw material over recycled. It's cheaper.
Keep at it, folks. I get tired of hearing from the naysayers who lament new ideas won't work just like the hysteria about Y2K and LCD bulbs. These folks will get it figured out.
Y2K took many hours to make no problems pre Y2K. If you worked on the issue you would be educated about the issue. We who worked the potential problems are very good at our jobs.
EVENTUALLY the material would have to be DISPOSED OF !!!! So you might be able to prolong its DISPOSAL by making shelters or storage units but 25 or 50 years from now THAT too will need a place to be dumped
What are the professor states It’s a replacement for petrochemical based plastics. My understanding the wind turbine blades have a petrochemical Based origin if that is correct, the plastic derived is hardly a petrochemical replacement. What would you make the wind turbine blades out of without petrochemical? and only then can you state it’s a petrochemical replacement-that should perhaps be the next topic of research
How about we just do away with the inefficient use of windmills which are ruining the landscape and now filling the dumps, the effect on the environment is horrendous, and the addition of kilowatts is almost nonexistent compared to that degradation of the landscape
This is not legitimate recycling. It's just like sweeping the problem under the rug. Grinding up the blades into little pieces is just a way to make the dumping of old blades less obvious. All wind turbine blades should be made of fully recyclable materials, like aluminum, steel, or wood.
3:03 Unfortunately as wind turbines have a very short lifespan, and many of them are made up of carbon fiber which is very expensive and where intensive to grind up, as well the transportation of such large items is another very expensive proposition. As is much of the greenwashing of the energy sector has proven wind turbines are not long term efficient and trying to repurpose their worn out blades is unfortunately just another problem created by the so-called green energy movement. Feel good stories are all great especially for States like Maine that have been devastated by the outsourcing of paper products to foreign countries , but surely all this money grants and government research money is only deepening the depth of the problem with these blade with short lifespan designs of blades that are so complex and large there can't be really a profitable solution for there disposal. The companies that have bought these and manufactured them and made tremendous amounts of money through their environmental paybacks and green money payments should be made responsible for taking care of what is their waste materials .
Those pellets look like they would work well for 3-D printed houses, for that matter, or possibility ships even, like smaller coastal bulk carriers. 3-D printed things have a limited life span so whatever it is needs, itself, to be recyclable.
Solar panels last 20-30 years. Turbine blades 20 years. All of it toxic garbage difficult to recycle. O but its renewable energy. Yeah, you got to renew it every 20 years.
Our regular garbage recycling is a scam
Unfortunately
@@Deeppowbro - Plastic recycling seemingly for sure.
Corporate America packaging is a scam. Maybe the manufacturers should be responsible for recycling.
Unprofitable doesn't mean "scam" in all cases. As long as the overall benefits exceed the overall costs it's fine. Non-monetary costs and benefits are hard to judge, but trading otherwise idle human labor for reduced resource usage at a small monetary loss seems OK to me. Collecting the stuff now also encourages companies to develop new uses for recycled materials. I'd give plastic recycling another decade or so to see if that happens.
And of course aluminum is highly profitable, and I imagine they also make a small profit on steel.
@@kgilliagorilla2761 Unnecessary plastic everywhere, on items that could be in cardboard or basically unpackaged. At least they're mostly using cardboard and paper for fill now instead of Styrofoam packing peanuts.
The problem has never been to find something to do with the carcass ... it's to find something to do with the carcass that doesn't cost more than it's worth. That's always been the problem with recycling ... finished products suck as raw ore.
Astute comment. As I watched this video I kept thinking; "what is the cost of recycling?" True, any alternative to discarding used wind turbine blades into landfills is preferable but recycling them will never happen if people with money to invest don't see a profit in it. And trust me, people with money to invest are seldom hoodwinked.
@@rickkearn7100 unlike taxpayers who were fooled into washing containers for 'recycling' only to have it go right into that same landfill for years.
If reuse cost is built into the electricity cost it's not a problem. A profitable solution would be nice. Utilities or any other business never want to be told how they need to be responsible.
I prefer the old-fashioned way of recycling--reuse stuff. If you've got room-long hollow blades sturdy enough to resist hurricanes, think of the well-insulated walls that you could make with that! If our forefathers could make walls out of logs, surely this would be much easier! Or take segments and cut holes in them to turn them into animal shelters. Or pierce them, bury them and turn them into a watering system. Or all kinds of options. You don't have to go through all of the trouble to grind them up and reconstitute them.
@@DoloresJNurss, Agree they should investigate for the ways that have the least added cost/labor resulting in usable products, bering in mind if it is a final product or a product for use in producing something(s)else. Which the latter seems their only focus, given materials change less than shapes I can see that.
As someone who has built the blades and been inside them while on a turbine, I've always thought they should be used for infrastructure or construction. You could build some sick skatepark features with a wind turbine blade
This guy fucks!
I was wondering about that. I am concerned about microplastics, but all that space inside must be good for something. Maybe indoor parks could use them more readily.
What about using them to protect underground cables?
It's high time that we require manufacturers to have a recycling/reuse plan for everything they manufacture. It should not be an after-thought, especially with items this massive.
That would require a cost increase on the front end of a product ! So there goes the so called affordable green energy which is already a joke and those wind things are . . UGLY !
I agree
@@mindyobidness9554Do you think the cost to figure out how to dispose them isn't factored in to green energy costs? I guess you think reactive plans are netter than proactive ones. I hope you never were a manager.
@@cakeman58 O' so you were there when they did their cost analysis on the specifics of wind turbine blades ? Ya ok Mr business CEO !
This sounds great - until you think about it. How would you even start to tackle that? What do you do for construction materials that are supposed to be in place for decades, if not centuries. What do you do with consumables? So dumb.
How much *energy* is required to recycle a blade? That does not begin to add other costs like labor. Who pays for these things? Is there a pay-off beyond feel-good tingles?
NO...
Earlier in 2024, recycling, as a whole, was declared a complete and utter scam by an overwhelming number of scientists
Like everything else that doesn't work...the government will take from us to subsidize.
Watch it again, and pay attention this time. That's why a $75K grant was given to study the feasibility. The companies that erect the turbines should be responsible for their disassembly and removal. They were the ones reaping untold riches selling overpriced electricity.
@@brianbassett4379 The best option I believe is to add an environmental charge to every option of energy generation method including Nuclear and gas fired plants and coal fired plants ,solar p[panels for the cost of recycling the materials used. Then we would really see the cost of electricity generation instead of the subsidized costs of some but not others. The amount to recycle a Nuclear power plant is insane, and needs to be factored into the costs of the electricity it generates. We should not leave these messes to the next generation to fix. Nothing comes for free except the wind and sun, but utilizing anything has a cost. My province is still spending money to clean up Uranium mines from WW2 at great costs to tax payers.
Interesting fact about plastics, and probably fiber glass, because they are both petroleum based, every time it is heated for production of a product the molecular structure breaks down losing strength and durability, that is why they have to add in virgin material. Sometimes as much as 70% .only items that are of no structural consequence can use 100% recycled materials 🤔
Wait, wait wait. Hang on a minute. They can’t be petroleum based we’re doing away with that industry. How come we are still using it to fund and support the renewable energy process?😂
Where are the Just Stop Oil protestors?
@@malcolmwhite6588 We aren't going to stop using oil and nobody ever said that. What we are trying to do is quit burning it. The more of it we burn the higher the price goes on the other products, not accounting for price gouging that is.
@@cyclewisconsin105 when you say, nobody says that we should stop burning, oil ,that’s not correct. Many politicians have expressed a desire to completely shut down the petrochemical and oil and gas industry. However, you quite rightly state, a couple of things : there is benefit to be burning less oil for sure, and also price gouging goes on as it sadly does in many essential industries, including of course the electricity industry
I believe they did that for cost, aluminum lasts longer than 20 years and it is 100% recyclable, we have things (planes ships ), etc. that are 80 years old and still operational.
Maybe the bowing corp is bogarding all the aluminum.
Make note! They did not revieal the "cost"!!
How much does it cost to get rid of coal ash waste?
Trying to recycle something like that will never be a net positive. It may not be 'simple math' but it's not that difficult to calculate the ROI. Engineering schools used to have business as pre-req classes.
I visited the Munich Science Museum this year. The hall of Power and Engines has an interesting exhibit, sections of a very-large wind turbine blade, sawed into sections, spaced and suspended from the ceiling. You get to see the interiors of the various sections and get a sense of how long the blades are and how intricately they are made. Impressive.
Impressive, yes, but hardly in my opinion , environmentally friendly or a genuine replacement for existing energy
a mix of fiber and thermoplastic. "Oil"
What about the root sections of the blades? Are they large enough to create mini shelters for the homeless? Two roots bonded together and capped at each end could possibly creat a livable shelter.
Agreed. They could turn the large ends into storage sheds or lockers. As for the tapered ends, those could be repurposed into some kind of awning to provide shade.
I thought it was going to be a playground feature before watching the video.
@@bertblue9683 another good idea for recycled blades!
What about as a storm shelter?
@@lauramichele474 not really, they are made from composite fiberglass and maybe carbon fiber. Storm shelters must be able to stop a 2 x 4 lumber stud launched out of a special cannon at over 200 miles per hour into it walls and doors and survive a dead weight fall of at least 500 pounds from a distance of ten feet.
reusing the material for lower strength requirement applications is a great idea. i would take the round part and make rain water tank for my orchard 🙂
How many thousands of blades would you like delivered to your farm?
@@DAVID-io9nj rain water collecting is something that should happen at every house. most of the water we use can easily be rain water but we use drinking water to do it all. it is mindbogglingly stupid. i have over 20kgal of underground tanks, and i am a small 1 acre orchard. large orchards and farms could gobble these up if the costs could be reasonable. these look like they would last forever.
Hate to tell you they are being removed because they are breaking down and not structually sound anymore.. So much for tht tank idea huh?
@@SilvaDreams they are being taken down because they cannot meet structural requirements of a turbine which are many orders of magnitude more stringent than underground tanks which also get no more uv and will fare better protected.
EPA would have a fit because of the toxins in the plastics.
There was also a story about using turbine blades as "racks" for solar panels.
Sounds great. Just wondering what energy it takes to break the blades down to usable materials.
Whatever energy it is will probably become more renewable as time goes on
Most likely more than it took to make them. Mining materials and all.
More than they ever got from them in the first place.
@@anomamos9095 prove it
Balsa wood, if used in these is about the only renewable material because more trees can be planted. Fiberglass and steel aren’t renewable as they are not grown, but are man made. And made from natural resources that are in a finite amount. Iron ore and whatever fiberglass resin is made of do not grow wild and don’t replenish themselves. Not much in the world that is used in manufacturing is sustainable besides wood and plant based items like cotton. Lithium and Cobalt are not and will run out in time if they continue to be used at the rate they are, just like gold, silver, copper and diamonds. Diamonds can form over time, but at a rate no where close to how fast they’re being mined.
These blades do not last 20 years because the tips are traveling at close to 200 mph. Every dust grain, pellet of ice and even rain drops take a toll. The speed is deceiving that is why they kill so many birds.
This is a lot of s***we've got a 20-year high ice pack at the Arctic up there right now it's never been so much ice on the Arctic circle in 20 years if Maine's weather is changing that it's only getting colder
Your post (factual or not) is very difficult to parse out....get a grip and explain yourself. You offered not one bit of punctuation. LOL
Please tell me where you got these facts from? When you the Glaciers you can see where the ice was in the 70's and where it is now. Major rivers in Canada that are fed by glaciers in the summer. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had receded a distance of 1,364 metres (4,475 ft), with the rate of retreat between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging 55 metres (180 ft) per year.[1
@@crzy11000 because, of course, all that human activity between 1948 and 1953! Most of us don’t deny climate might be changing, the real point is, you can’t possibly prove that humans are the cause. But more importantly all of the trillions of $$$ the greenies force the poor to spend make absolutely not a millionth of a degree difference and all the money is just lining your own pockets.
What do they do with the balsa wood from the rain forest that is used to shape the blades?
Evidently, the balsa wood is still inside the blades. From what I could find with goog.
The Balsa wood is valuable. Like the majority of Balsa wood, It will be cut out and used to insulate aircraft and luxury vehicles. Strong, light Balsa is hard to find and is expensive. Structural Balsa usually gets replaced by carbon fiber. Spruce is a close second to Balsa.
How about the outside plastic or whatever as shingles then cut the balsa wood off as boards
if the ground up plastics and fibers can be used in 3D pprinters then they might be able to be used in some kind of plastic welding as well. sections could be cut out of old blades and reused as stock to make other things. my DIY frankenstein kayak was made from alot of plastic welding and scraps and has held up for years. one just has to learn some plastiic welding. with the right scraps and stock and creativity there is much you can do.
Its fiberglass
@@gibbyrockerhunter thats even easier to work with with the right epoxy.
@FrankensteinDIYkayak really? Since you cant simply remelt it to extrude a filament i would of thought it would be more difficult. Aside from the cnc machines abilities.
Just the process of breaking it down to reuse sounds insanely non cost-effective.
@@gibbyrockerhunter I just thought it was remeltable as they were talking 3D printing since 3D printing heads are often heated.
@@FrankensteinDIYkayakThe material recycled in this video is used as a filler in the printing filament. The fibres (even though chopped) will add strength, while the ground up epoxy with detract too much.
But, back to your idea.. If parts can be milled from the blades (the swarf sent for use in this video), those parts can be glued together since even old epoxy glues well.
The biggest waste is building them at all.
Yup, total boondoggle. To much money, to much maintenance, to much waste, to little return.
Excellent, wonderful to see innovative approaches to reducing waste.
50 years after the fact. How many Millions of discarded blades around the USA and the world? They have a tall order to fill better get cracking. And after that how about all the millions of dead solar panels showing up in our landfills as we speak? Another farce to fool the public.
Looks like they could be fashioned into homes also.
Especially suitable in tornado alley… think w/ proper design & build (fasteners) infinitely better (safer) than the pervasive ’stick-frame’ homes.
When I saw that hole chopped in the side of the blade, I was thinking tubular shelters for homeless people.
That would be an interesting idea, but there are several environmental considerations... these are PLATICS... will they outgas micro particles or hazardous gasses?... what happens when they catch FIRE?... HAVE YOU SEEN THE POLLUTION they spew out when on fire?... It would have to be impregnated or coated with a fireproofing agent... This could be the New Lead Paint issue... Grinding up the blades would put tons of micro plastic dust into the air... and I'm not an environmentalist... I'm sure they will come up with many more problems...
@@gr8dvd It wouldn't have the structural strength of wood. Not to mention the energy needed to recycle and manufacture components.
@@OWK000 How about we get them jobs and mental health services first??
transportation costs seem like a limiting factor, youd need to shred them or something first.
??? They transport them to the turbines in one piece, right? Why couldn't they go the opposite direction?
they could also be cut up into sections
@@mike74h the cities expect you to pay them permit fees
@@MrTweetyhack Oh, I can see how that could get expensive.
The cost of the energy to recycle not cost effective
I find it amazing how all these environmentalist don't realize the wind blades are made out of fiberglass in turn is a petroleum base.
Which environmentalists? Post a link.
People should compare wind turbine waste to coal ash waste. In the US, 1 kWh of electricity from coal produces 0.1785 lb of ash. A 2.5 to 3 MW turbine averages 6 million kWh per year. So a 200 ton wind turbine can offset 10,000 tons of coal ash waste.
cost 4 times as much and 10 times the pollution.
Love the young innovative people helping solve issues for today and tomorrow.
omg - are you for real?
Interesting but where do you think the thermo plastics in the blades came from?
i wish they found a way to recycle the insane amount of microplastics released during the lifespan of those blades
And this horrendous waste of resources is considered "sustainable"?
How much oil does it take to create these blades?
How much and where does the energy source come from to grid up these blades ? How long did the old windmills in the Netherlands last ? There are still lots of metal windmills from the 30s that still function for water pumping . We don’t seem to learn.
A small pelletized product for cement aggregate sounds great but … it sounds pricey if used for any type of “normal” masonry project.
That is one inch thick heavy composite fiberglass. Good luck finding a safe home for that! It will be the next thing in all of our water!!!
So, they're using the fibers from the composite windmill components as fillers for new composites. If they're shredded, they have no tensile strength, so then they're used for CMU or additive manufacturing (3D printing) where compressive loads are typical. But then, that opens up use of materials such as gravel or sand. Hard to believe this material can be cheaper to use than sand. And in Texas, we have (currently) 15,000 wind turbines. Who's going to pay to dismantle, cut up and ship 45,000 blades to a recycling plant? With inflation, shipping costs are insane these days. Need to make sure the economics is SUSTAINABLE.
What is the source of materials for turbine blades? I say blades use composite petroleum base materials.
Fiberglass and epoxy resin.
What about the 900 tons of concrete used for each wind turbine base?
What about the 80 gallons of oil in each windmill that has to be regularly changed out.
concrete is always renewable.
@@jugglesdimensions8632 same as your car... they recycle it, filter it. smh.
@@minimaladjacent How about those huge fiberglass blades that are only good for 20 years that are filling the landfills? They're not recyclable. How about when the wind that is outside the operating limits of 7-27 mph? Did you know in the field of energy generation windmills is the most deadly to human beings? I don't think you would know any of this because you're just a dumb greenie.
I think you could make an interesting 'skate park' with a couple of them.
Can they be insulated and used as shelter at all?
That’s really cool!
These are solutions we need. How much energy does it take to recylce a blade?
It would make a good liquids tank.
I'm wondering how much energy is used in recycling those blades?
how much energy will be required to recycle those things vs how much the wind turbine actually made?
i don't think anyone believes they last 20 years. i read the maintenance alone on them more than used up the energy they made.
People could live in those.
The production process makes more waste than the wind turbines save to begin with - Not green in the slightest.
The widest sections look large enough to supply shelters for the homeless.
Were the turbine blades made from Non-renewable oil products?
Plastics, epoxy and fiberglass.
Not counting the millions of gallons of oil.
I thought for sure they were going to make a building with it...
Seems super expensive.
Looks like they could also be cut up and used as small rooms for homeless sheltering to me.
Congratulations to Maine I wish them success.
Just mill it into planking for some sort of building material.
Why not take the materials and make it into another wind mill blade?
It's made out of fiberglass.
Can’t the material be broken down into gravel sized pieces and used as aggregate for concrete?
I have heard it has been tried, but nothing reported on traction or longevity
Only 20 years? Wow that’s nothing. There at old metal windmills over 100+ years old still working. Heck even asphalt shingles last longer. Who’s making these things?
Renewable as long as the HUGE pile of used blades don't bother you. Ya get a big pile of dead birds too!
buildings, oil, gas and nuclear industries kill more birds,... birds avoid the turbines.
old style of putting them staggered and close together caused the issue. used to live near dozens of turbines and watch the migrating birds avoid them also a study done... is the birds changed their migration pattern to avoid them.
So much for sustainable and renewable! lol. Chumps.
Simpletons
Turn them into dildos for the promoters of such .
The blades should have never been that big. All they need to be is the size of a small fan. Someone pulled a fast one selling those big blades.
No way it will be cost effective. This is just more greenwashing. Cutting them down to regular truck trailer length and using them as some sort of structured fill or pass through is probably the best you'll do.
I can't believe only now are people even thinking about harvesting those fibers. So much for Life Cycle Cost.
Composite turbines, supposed to use a hazmat suit and respirator when ever they are damaged (why they can't recycle them) so lets show the world it's cool to touch the ruff composite....
I'm thinking AirBnB
thats one of the biggest issues with wind turbines
these composite materials are close to impossible to recycle/take apart again.....
It’s fiberglass!
what wears the blades out?
As the material ages and is used the material fatigues and eventually weakens like any other material. Wood, metal, even stone eventually wear down over time, the only question is how long it takes.
@@briandeiwert5911 Aluminum airplane propellers are in service after many, many decades. True, not always rotating, but in an otherwise harsh environment.
@@frequentlycynical642 airplane propeller blades are also typically around 4-8 feet in length. Wind turbine blades are around 150-200 feet in length. I suspect the extra length introduces more wear to the entire structure. Also an aluminum wind turbine blade of that size would be insanely heavy compared to the composite materials used now.
@@briandeiwert5911 But airplane blades spin at high speeds which would increase the loads to be similar, perhaps, to a long blade turning much slower.
What wears out blades? The new money for profits for the selected suppliers who benefit from replacing the blades. Planned obsolescence and opportunistic "depreciation" are awfully destructive forces.
2:20, that board has a huge crack just above the bolt that's going to hold it in place, seriously lowering the load capacity...
Reading the replies, seems folks clearly understand that beyond the hype of beneficial reuse comes the economic impacts. The law of diminishing returns has a huge impact on the hopeful rhetoric of recycling. Worth noting, the cost of recycling never includes the environmental impacts that inevitably result. The ruse of "renewable energy" omits the fact that using the renewable part is not the part we use, and the equipment required to convert require minerals and other materials including hydrocarbons.
*THESE BLADES ARE TINY* and there are very few of them - the newer blades are so big we cut them up for classrooms, bike shelters, home offices for the garden etc over here in the EU
As soon as you guys in the US catch up on the turbine technology there will be waiting lists for the blades...!!!
The EU is a joke... end of story bottom line end of report...
what they dont talk about is the power requirements to break down the blades and then to print new items. will need two to three turbines just for that ...sad cause we have the power answer and its more environmental friendly ie green energy nuclear power thorium liquid salt reactors
I clicked on this thinking immediately, it better not be a fuckin house conversation, gonna watch and find out, brb-
Phew... It wasnt tiny homes. Had me worried for a sec.
It’s not a replacement for petroleum, those blades are made mostly from petroleum, it’s just a reuse of it. I hope somebody has an aha moment and is successful in finding the perfect use for them!
It would be awesome to have them go into building affordable housing instead of landfills 😊
All sounds nice, but I doubt it will be fully used. The cost of recycling is too high for companies to actually use. Same reason plastic product makers prefer virgin plastic raw material over recycled. It's cheaper.
Not just cheaper but as plastics as recycled they break down meaning you HAVE to have some virgin material to retain some semblance of strength.
would the same sort of processes work for recycling composite car bodies hot tubs an aircraft?
Keep at it, folks. I get tired of hearing from the naysayers who lament new ideas won't work just like the hysteria about Y2K and LCD bulbs. These folks will get it figured out.
Y2K took many hours to make no problems pre Y2K. If you worked on the issue you would be educated about the issue. We who worked the potential problems are very good at our jobs.
Why is it not possible to remove them and then resurface them and reuse for another 20 years?
It’s hot and humid in Maine this Memorial Day weekend, and there’s a scourge of black flies. WHERE HAS THE CLIMATE CHANGED?
They have been here for 50 years.
Build a sub from one. Go see the Titanic!
Yeah that worked out well last time 😂
@@user-bu3zz2po6n Got to push the boundaries to be a real explorer. 😆 💥☠️
@@Skidderoperator yeah real mush 🤣
@@user-bu3zz2po6n Exploded meat
Maybe then need to make them less screwed up. 20 years only!!??
EVENTUALLY the material would have to be DISPOSED OF !!!! So you might be able to prolong its DISPOSAL by making shelters or storage units but 25 or 50 years from now THAT too will need a place to be dumped
What are the professor states It’s a replacement for petrochemical based plastics. My understanding the wind turbine blades have a petrochemical Based origin if that is correct, the plastic derived is hardly a petrochemical replacement. What would you make the wind turbine blades out of without petrochemical? and only then can you state it’s a petrochemical replacement-that should perhaps be the next topic of research
How about we just do away with the inefficient use of windmills which are ruining the landscape and now filling the dumps, the effect on the environment is horrendous, and the addition of kilowatts is almost nonexistent compared to that degradation of the landscape
This is not legitimate recycling. It's just like sweeping the problem under the rug. Grinding up the blades into little pieces is just a way to make the dumping of old blades less obvious. All wind turbine blades should be made of fully recyclable materials, like aluminum, steel, or wood.
They are using the blade to make the pellets for the 3D printer.
Asphalt ,cement filling, land fill base for to collect gas off land fill
Amazing!
May, maybe,might, can, could, possible, possibly.
Key word: POTENTIAL
3:03 Unfortunately as wind turbines have a very short lifespan, and many of them are made up of carbon fiber which is very expensive and where intensive to grind up, as well the transportation of such large items is another very expensive proposition.
As is much of the greenwashing of the energy sector has proven wind turbines are not long term efficient and trying to repurpose their worn out blades is unfortunately just another problem created by the so-called green energy movement.
Feel good stories are all great especially for States like Maine that have been devastated by the outsourcing of paper products to foreign countries , but surely all this money grants and government research money is only deepening the depth of the problem with these blade with short lifespan designs of blades that are so complex and large there can't be really a profitable solution for there disposal.
The companies that have bought these and manufactured them and made tremendous amounts of money through their environmental paybacks and green money payments should be made responsible for taking care of what is their waste materials .
Those pellets look like they would work well for 3-D printed houses, for that matter, or possibility ships even, like smaller coastal bulk carriers. 3-D printed things have a limited life span so whatever it is needs, itself, to be recyclable.
a lot of fossil fuels used to create every little aspect of all that.
Sustainability!!
Solar panels last 20-30 years. Turbine blades 20 years. All of it toxic garbage difficult to recycle. O but its renewable energy. Yeah, you got to renew it every 20 years.
Ill take ten blades please.
They've been buried in Iowa for years
Those windmills sure don't seem to last very long.
That's the plan , make more !
I first thought they were gonna make miniature homes for the homeless
It's fiberglass. Grind it up and make a boat or a car out of it.