Wind Turbine Blade Reuse Options - Ask an Expert

[@jessepender5239]

Interesting conversation! I'm going to look into what's being done with decommissioned wind turbines in my area.

[@julmaass]

I've explored using them for external shading louvers (vertical/horizontal). They're weather resistant, made to be outdoors, highly rigid and good longitudinal strength. and the variance is shape is not a problem. exactly what is needed. The shades on the market are mostly made out of aluminum, steel sheet metal with very high embodied energy.

[@boathemian7694]

They can be sawn into planking and be used for a number of construction projects.

[@RRrrRRrrlandfin]

Telecommunication mast, light pole, utility pole, small wind turbine mast, trump wall, sail boat mast, boat hull, structural beams

[@bessieyoung5078]

can these blades be used to create housing?

[@craiglan5427]

Hello Has anybody used old wind turbine blades in the making of travel trailer body frames , especially teardrop trailers.

[@tinkeringwithmark1186]

I see a bunch of cool shaped swimming pools. Drainage, walls, etc. I could cut that up into some really cool stuff. Lol!

[@Sondan1988]

Dr. Rosie this lady talked about this product being ready by about June or July of 2021, do you know if it really did come to market ?

[@angelanagle9709]

Hi Sondan & Rosemary, we did indeed finish our first pedestrian bridge on a greenway in Ireland and are working to commercialize this business now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWi6f3yqicaIqaM

[@terenceiutzi4003]

So if everyone in Canada buys 4 of then we will have our pressence blades used up.

[@dugandav1]

I’m afraid there is not enough of this discussion going on in the whole alternative energy sector. For instance, what will happen to all these solar panels that we’ve all been installing the last 10/15 years? Naturally there will be a time when they come to their end of their life. I hope we don’t end up shipping them off to some far-off country in Africa like the UK did or used to do refuse.

[@Jcewazhere]

I'd make house siding and roof tiles out of them. The blades are already super tough and weatherproof. Both are rarely touched after install so there's less worry about the fiberglass irritating people. Cutting them down to roof tiles would allow you to use more of the curvy parts of the blade, while the siding would require less labor to cut down to size. Not sure how it's circular though as you don't re-reuse the materials after you make sheds/doors/etc out of the blades; and you don't make new blades out of the old ones.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

What is the life expectancy of a wind turbine?

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

20-30 years usually. I talk about design lifetime in depth in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpfUpoCubs1sbq8

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@EngineeringwithRosie Thank you. I’ve just found your channel and have been bingeing today. Have you done a vid on kite powered generators and do you have an opinion on if they could be made to work?

[@petersilva037]

@@EngineeringwithRosie what is wrong with the blades when the windmill is retired... is there a worry about them yeeting themselves apart because of some kind of progressive rot? How do people know the structural stength of the blades after 30 years of use? in fiberglass boats, there are often soft spots, and a wood core that rots, requiring repairs. Perhaps this is only a boat thing, though. Would the blades used in structural applications need extensive inspections, or is this not a problem?

[@abdullahal-junaibi3656]

since the shape of wind turbine is like the shape of plane can we use wind blades to make drones

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

Hey, that's a cool idea 😀 It would be hard to use the whole blade like this because 1 - wind turbine blades are HUGE (at least 30m long for utility scale turbines) and 2 - they are twisted whereas aeroplane wings are not (because wind turbine blades are rotating which affects the local wind speed). But I bet you could use the tips of a couple of wind turbine blades to make a drone. It might not have a commercial application, but it would definitely be a fun project.

[@mrgevans5126]

Boat building, eco home roofing or cladding, bus shelters, water tank ribs, rail station shelters, farm buildings for animals, canoe, kayak, surfboards, electro hydrofoil water toys, smaller blade home wind generators, make use of panels for moulding, jigs, stencils, templates, or reusable boxes for tools. Just Ideas, but you could use this material for these things. Your welcome 😇

[@wilhallman2890]

I think they could be turned into boat hulls

[@alanhughes1262]

i found a prefect use for them and they would have a good end by making coffins out of them ,sounds silly but not so silly .these materials into coffins would solve the problem, lots of people pass away every year all of them would be used up .

[@GEMINDIGO]

I hate to think of windmill blades ending up in landfill - keep up the good work of trying to find ways to recycle them.We need a sustainable society and we need it fast!!!

[@yibangtech]

cement plant or power station fuel should be ok after more than 20 years of life of the blade. Greener friends do not want to give up.

[@dougowt]

? Attach solar panels to the blade, fix the blade to a rotating base and sun tracking equipment - vertical solar farm.

[@terenceiutzi4003]

And the transportation will cost ten time what normal construction would and produce ten times as much CO2

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

Thanks for the comment, definitely transport emissions need to be taken into account! I believe that efficient logistics is a topic another researcher in Heloisa's group is working on. Of course if they are not reused they need to be transported to landfill or burning, so there will be transport emissions either way. Electric trucks is the answer I guess 😀

[@ICU-mw7su]

@@EngineeringwithRosie It would be interesting to compare the electric use to transport with electric trucks compared to the electric created by the wind turbines hauled. Don't forget to discount by the electricity it took for both creating the turbines & the trucks! 🤣

[@jasongrant1708]

Our next venture is a new coal plant loy yang B+ , the knuckle dragging left can invest in their battery

[@Physwe]

wat

[@jasongrant1708]

The Yallourn battery what a laugh

[@wilhallman2890]

turn them into catamarans and boats

[@GEMINDIGO]

Let's face it - a consumer society uses way too much energy.A very important part of the solution is for people to tread lightly on the earth and use less energy

[@GEMINDIGO]

Building homes for poor people seems like a good idea.

[@ReevansElectro]

I am sorry Rosie but this is one of the worst approaches to environmentalism. Transporting and preparing these materials to people who can find realistic uses for it is so wasteful and frivolous. Your guest is making a mockery of the environmental movement.

[@anderslvolljohansen1556]

If it can replace other materials that need transporting and preparing, I don't see it as wasteful or frivolous. Some environmentally technologies will succeed while others will fail, and that's all right as long as we can't predict the outcome. Only when we start technology development projects without simple initial engineering and economic calculations demonstrating potential, are we making a mockery.

[@joshuacheung6518]

That depends on how far you're transporting them for processing and use... and what it's replacing. If it's pretty local, it would actually save fuel.

[@seneca983]

If they're not reused this way they still need to be transported to a landfill, a cement kiln, or some other kind of facility because they usually can't just be buried onsite. It's not obvious that transporting them to some location to form a bridge etc. would be worse.

[@mattpeacock5208]

If a wind turbine blade is no longer usefull because of losing the structural integrity, why would you choose to use it as a bridge for people to walk on? Your thumbnail sucks, zero stars!!

[@EngineeringwithRosie]

Ouch, thanks for the honest feedback! Can you tell me what you don't like about it, or share links to some videos with thumbnails you do like? That is a great question you ask about structural integrity of the used blades. Wind turbine blades need to withstand huge forces when they are in operation. They are decomissioned before their useful lifetime is up, so there is still plenty of strength left in them for less structurally demanding applications like the ones mentioned in the video. Thanks again for the feedback, it's very helpful!

[@blenderbenderguy]

@@EngineeringwithRosie You showed a lot of restraint there Rosie! Matt obviously needs to find something better to do than to criticize your thumbnail.