Will Wind Turbines Be Generating More Waste Than Electricity?
By Ronald Stein, P.E.
Published July 18, 2023
Wind turbines, once touted by the few wealthy and less populated countries as a clean solution for electricity, are now becoming an eyesore, a hazard, and a significant environmental threat.
After decades of operating around the world for the few wealthy and less populated countries, wind turbines continue to have a live expectancy of about 20 years. To date there has yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those wind turbines. As a result, today’s old wind turbines are being dumped into toxic waste dumps.
Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem. Globally by 2050 projections are that there will be 43 million tons of blade waste produced EVERY YEAR — the equivalent of 215,000 locomotives.
By the turn of the century in 2100, the world population is projected to be more than 11 billion from its current 8 billion.
https://heartland.org/opinion/will-wind-turbines-be-generating-more-waste-than-electricity/
