Toxic blade time bomb
Alberta, Blogs | filed November 30, 2024
Credit: by Mark Mallett. Posted on November 28, 2024. windconcerns.com ~~
We have documented the threats of industrial wind turbines to both soil and water in their pre and post-construction phases, not to mention birds, bats, insects, and humans. But not enough has been said about the serious environmental threat of “blade shedding.” This is erosion that occurs primarily on the edge of turbine blades as they are exposed to the elements. And it is far from benign:
“Microplastic shedding from turbine blades, known as Leading Edge Erosion, is a great concern to manufacturers who are forced to repair the damage that occurs after only a couple of years. The particles eroded from blades include epoxy which is 40% Bisphenol-A (BPA), a frequently banned endocrine disruptor and neurotoxin. Academic research has shown the potential for 137 pounds of epoxy microparticles to be shed per turbine per year.”
—Mark Twichell, Citizens Against Wind Turbines In Lake Erie, October 29, 2022, The Buffalo News
Bisphenol-A or BPA is among the most toxic of man-made substances. Manufacturers of everything from juice jugs to appliances are making a point of claiming that their products are “BPA free.” Not so with industrial wind turbines, whose blades contain BPA in their resin coating.
Eroded wind turbine blade edge (Image from Telene.com, manufacturer of blade coatings)
Twichell is referring to a paper out of Norway, “Leading Edge erosion and pollution from wind turbine blades” (Solberg et al.) that examined the data of a U.K. study on rain erosion by Pugh et al. The Norweigan authors assert that, “With large emissions of toxic compounds from the wind turbine industry, this industry will be exposed. Wind turbines can have major ecological, health and economic consequences. We do not know any wind turbine facilities having applied for or received emission permits.” That’s likely the case nearly everywhere in the world as this issue of BPA shedding has hardly been addressed by local regulatory bodies, if at all.
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2024/11/30/toxic-blade-time-bomb/
