globalbriefs
Windy Woes Solving Wind Power’s Hidden
Pollution Problem
The U.S. Department of Energy reports that although wind power accounts for just over 4 percent of domestic electri- cal generation, it comprises a third of all new electric capacity. Even with the freedom from coal or oil that wind power creates, a major component of the generating devices, the turbine blades, has its own carbon footprint that needs examining.
Some of the blades are as long as a football field, and the metal, fiberglass or carbon composites must be mined, refined, manufactured and transported, all consuming energy and creating ma- terials that are difficult to recycle when they reach the end of their usefulness and are replaced. Christopher Niezrecki, a member of the University of Massa- chusetts-Lowell Wind Energy Research Group, estimates the United States will have as many as 170,000 wind turbines by 2030, creating more than 34,000 discarded blades each year. The next generation of blade mate-
rial may come from natural cellulose fi- bers and bio-based plastics derived from soybean, linseed and other vegetable oils, instead of oil-based polymers. A $1.9 million National Science Founda- tion grant is funding the research.
Source:
FastCoexist.com 24 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.NaturalAwakeningsMag.com
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