The VB1F project, carried out by a consortium of four partners, including Voodin Blade Technology, has been awarded a €48.18 million grant under the Innovation Fund to build the world’s first commercial manufacturing facility in Spain for fully recyclable wooden wind turbine blades.
German startup to scale up fully recyclable wind turbine blades
https://recyclingportal.eu/archive/96839
7 Comments
Danarchy@lemmy.nz · 7 pts · 24d
Ok but my bins go out on TUESDAY so they better pick a DIFFERENT FUCKING DAY
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 6 pts · 24d
A gleam of light in these dark fossil fueled times.
AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 24d
This is good but also feels a bit performative. The local production technology with wood does sound nice and useful, but I don't think the wood for the blades really adds up to much compared to rigid foam and fiberglass. The concrete needed for the foundation and earthwork will contain much more embodied energy and isn't recycleable. Plus the steel for the tower. Burring blades out of epoxy and fiberglass should be fine, it's non toxic and also a way to make sure the carbon in there is sequestered. It's a drop in the bucket overall.
To really reduce the amount of resources and material needed to harvest wind energy there should be more investment into kite power. A fraction of the mass needed and easier to deploy.
modem_down@thebrainbin.org · 1 pts · 24d
Aren't turbine blades usually aluminium? How is wood more "recyclable" than that?
B0rax@feddit.org · 23 pts · 24d
They are glas fiber composite. Which is not really recyclable
modem_down@thebrainbin.org · 2 pts · 24d
Thanks! I didn't know they were normally made of composites.
Looks like there are some ways (1, 2) to reuse/recycle the latter, but I agree wood would be better for this.
Cliff@feddit.org · 2 pts · 24d
The blades are mainly made of fibre-reinforced plastics. These are pretty much not recyclable. There are some projects that use structures made of cutouts of old blades though.