EVERY ENERGY SOURCE HAS A PRO AND A CON.

When people chant “keep it in the ground,” I’m sure they weren’t referring to wind blade waste. There is no energy panacea. Every energy source has a pro and a con. In a recent article from Bloomberg.com, they offer a good perspective on the pollution of wind, in that the turbine blades are not recyclable, but they are enormous. If we, as a nation, don’t realistically balance the pros and cons of each of them in our clean energy solution, we will fail to meet our objective.

 

The world needs lots of #energy, more than ever before. It is also true that there is a subset of people that are angry at the oil and gas industry for what they perceive to be greed, amongst other things. For those reasons and more, they advocate moving away from hydrocarbons, chanting “keep it in the ground.” In this article, we see one of the consequences of wind energy, which, ironically, will also be kept in the ground.

 

Wind turbine blades are strong enough to withstand hurricane-force winds—making them nearly indestructible. They are typically between 100 and 300 feet long, making them difficult and expensive to dismantle and transport (they must be cut into pieces using an industrial saw) and a potential problem at the few landfills that accept them: “Our crushing equipment is not big enough to crush them,” so says Cindy Langstrom, who manages the turbine blade disposal project for the municipal landfill in Casper, WY in a posted NPR story from last year.

 

Unchanneled anger plays a role in the ongoing difficulties experienced by people in a relationship and in policies. It’s time for all people to come to the table and engage in a constructive and realistic conversation about  #cleanenergy #cleanenergyfuture #renewableenergy

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills?fbclid=IwAR2OLjKmXJsB2WxAdtPCW7pw-M4Y3JIcygH2Qnr_92tWBUFtCjh-bvSj_Lo

 

By Suzanne Ogle
President & CEO Southern Gas Association