Continuing on with our discussion on wind turbines, today I will go into why they are so difficult to recycle when past their cost-effective life. As you may remember, we already covered how many there are, how large they are, what their cost is, how long it takes for them to pay for themselves, and how they produce electricity as cheaply as coal and gas fired plants.
As previously discussed, wind turbines are good for the environment as they generate clean and renewable power. Unfortunately, though, when their blades reach the end of their lives, the current options on what to do with them — burning or landfilling — aren’t so good. And there are a lot of blades that are no longer useful.
How long do the blades last? Again, it is shorter than I had imagined. I found the design life of a good quality modern wind turbine is about 20 years. However, it was noted that, “Depending on how windy and turbulent the site is, the turbine could last for 25 years or even longer, though as with anything mechanical, the maintenance costs will increase as it gets older.”
