Renewable energy is popular–it is often touted as the “fastest-growing” source of energy with statements such as “the total amount of electricity harnessed from wind has more than doubled since 2010” and “the rate of solar power installation has grown by a factor of more than one hundred during the last ten years.” Here we see my friend Brian and his cigarettes all over again: true statements that mask the fact that, taken together, wind and solar still provide less than 5 percent of the world’s energy diet, and it’s terribly hard to see a way to bring this up to even 50 percent. No, the vast majority of the turbines in the world are turned by the burning of fossil fuels.
The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here
With all the buzz around renewable energy, you might begin to think about all the benefits. But their waste? Perhaps, not so much.
Do you know where all their parts go when it’s time for them to be decommissioned? They go to landfills.
And, like every story, there’s a hero, but they do not come in capes. Instead of throwing away decommissioned turbines, a team of creative innovators saw the potential of wind turbines and repurposed them to become bridges!
How awesome is that?
Check out this article about how engineers build bridges with recycled wind turbine blades.
jessa 