Menzies Research Centre Executive Director Nick Cater discovers a wind turbine graveyard in North Queensland has been made, with footage revealing dozens of unrecyclable wind turbines.
My thoughts as well. The "Green Brigade" just jump on the next bandwagon without a thought for future consequences such as the finite life of components and disposal once time expired. By all means come up with ideas for sustainable energy production but don't then just go and implement them without weighing the cost, in terms of deliverable energy vs cost of manufacture and disposal. If it costs more to make/dispose of than it gives back then it isn't "green".
There is a strong theory that off shore wind is upsetting the acoustics of the ocean and preventing whales from hunting in their natural grounds. Lest I mention the birds.
The greenies told me the blades would last forever. They were right. But, I forgot to ask if that was actually on a turbine producing power. You got me greenies. My bad.
nothing lasts forever...but at least a coal power plant does not need to keep growing...these renewables use huge amount of metal to construct, they are not reliable and they need 20 times the amount of coal in order to consistently produce them hell the BEST solar cells are produced from burning the worst black coal and the unbelievable thing is they just burn the coal to make the cells...why not put that into a coal plant to make electricity and then move the waste to a solar cells facility to make the cells...these fascist leftoids are insane and are the kings of waste and destruction
You're actually claiming "the greenies" told you they'd last forever? Pretending momentarily this isn't an invented anecdote, why would you be foolish enough to believe them? What manufactured product lasts forever?
Hiding behind political point scoring exercises while, the planet burns.. Human-induced climate change has played an "absolutely overwhelming" role in the extreme heatwaves that have swept across North America, Europe and China this month, according to an assessment by scientists published on Tuesday.
as I once said to a Greens voter, you cannot claim to fight against climate change, and destroy the environment at the same time. Renewables have a massive land footprint and require the destruction of habitat areas for native species. Why is it that the government doesn't look at one of the cleanest and safest energy sources that require less land, less material and generates more electricity than fossil fuels, and yes I am referring to Nuclear.
Not mention that rare earth metals are mine by slave child labourers in Africa and and as a bonus some parts Africa looks now like toxic wastelands because of mining.
There is no need of more energy just to feed humanity greedy idiocrazy. It is not a matter of improvement of people's quality of life AT ALL. Ex.: Producing thousands of ham little packs is not. Most will go to the trash. Nuclear is for Wars. Speak truth please.
@MrGwynMorris Chernobyl was ancient Russian technology. Fukushima was built on a fault line. Now YOU look up all the nuclear power plants that have been operating safely for years on land and at sea. Me? I go for nuclear. .
There's a video on "recycling" blades.. In the US, they have cut the blades into short sections for easy transport. The video shows men cuttig the blades with circular saws, in the bush, not wearing filter masks. The blades are balsa wood skins covered with fibreglass... saw dust from that is akin to asbestos dust in your lungs. The balsa is combustible, so the blades are ground down to a mulch then sold on to a cement factory where the mulch is burnt in the production furnaces where limestone is heated to produce cement, and release carbon dioxide. The whole process runs at an economic loss and needs to be subsidized. In parts of Europe, the blades have been cut, cleaned and repainted to form child play structures and canopies for bicycle shelters. There does not seem to be any real value in old turbine blades. They deteriorate from surface corrosion and impact damage. The internal struture fatigues... Cannot simply re-use them on another turbine. Those out at sea are a bigger problem. The blades are much bigger. They suffer from salt spray corrosion / erosion and need a special ship to dismantle them...
Everything you say might be true, and yet, no-one even bother to discuss your points or fact-check you for mal, mis or dis-information. It seems like no-one in government even considered your points only because they probably never heard of it.
There is a strong theory that off shore wind is upsetting the acoustics of the ocean and preventing whales from hunting in their natural grounds. Lest I mention the birds.
Ahhh, well here in the states they have been burying the blades In Wyoming and Iowa for years. But east of Los Angeles out past Palm Springs a person can see hundreds of these wind turbines that have broken down and just sitting as various companies that owned them have gone bankrupt or just closed down and these turbines are just sitting there.
More of this to come. What about worn out solar panels. Qld countryside is being destroyed all because the genius premier hit top speed on green issues before the brain was engaged.
Well, shit, if a few companies went bankrupt, cancel the whole industry. pan Am went broke, so cancel airlines. Dean industries filed for bankruptcy, so let's halt milk production.
@@saltyreesescup3104ha, ha , you can’t deny science and history. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the most documented event in the ancient world.
Plus... the wind doesn't always blow hard enough to turn the blades. And if the wind is howling, the blades have to be locked or the massive torque produced by the blades spinning to fast will destroy the entire structure.
@@billymurphy1644 I recently heard not all wind turbines blades spin. It depends on power demands. Once drove by two wind farms, one on the north side of the highway and the other on the south side. The ones on the south side were all spinning. The ones on the north side were all still.
Why does it have to make sense? Greenies, like to claim the sky is falling like chicken little then spend other peoples money which they are the best in the world at!
@@johnpeters4214 I saw it in a documentary called the ‘green myth’ or something along those lines. And it’s no secret the blades are stacking up in landfills because there’s not a cost effective way to recycle them yet… just like batteries and solar panels.
Who in their right mind will recertify these old things for use again? They do rot in the sun, just not like wood, but they do get weaker. as they shed and also develop internal cracks and stresses. The force on a rotating blade even as slow as they turn is humongous.
@@stefanjohansson2373 Rot can be defined as: A verb meaning to undergo decomposition, decay, deteriorate, disintegrate, fall, or become weak due to decay. A noun meaning the process of decaying or something that has decayed or is decaying. A type of plant disease caused by soil-borne bacteria or fungi. Any plant decomposition or putrefaction.
I watched a RU-vid film this morning from Rainforest Reserves Australia ....... it shocked me deeply and brought tears to my eyes. What an utter destruction of pristine Land, I keep thinking about this all day. IT HAS TO STOP !
A large number if not most of these wind farms in the last 5 years have been built at the lowest price. In other words, even if there was some technology that allowed wind turbines to be recycled - those are not the turbines Australia has been buying. Australia have purchased the cheap and nasty ones.
I live not far from a 200 wind turbine farm. I was told that last year the blades were replaced on most of the turbines. Each blade is approx 80 metres long and cannot be recycled, the cost to dump each blade at a land fill site is about $5,000 dollars per blade. I believe, somewhere not far from where I live, there are lots of these blades just waiting to be ??Recycled?? can you believe it.
I've been stuck behind the midnight police escorts of these blades and shafts for a year now, 10pm every weekday like clock work one of these things starts moving out west, I get stuck behind them every night, not a night I haven't seen them. Sometimes two or three of them, usually 4 or 5 escorts per trailer. We are talking a huge amount of money moving each piece out west. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars just to move them one way, let alone anything else. Hiring police and escorts on night rate? 100ks minimum. Whoa $$$$$$
@@Brads-strung-out A year? And you don't think to alter your route? Rearrange your schedule? Stop for coffee and pie? Leave earlier to beat them? If working, ask your boss for an early exit or an hour's O.T.? 12 months, 52 weeks, and you can't alter anything?
@@indiathylane2158 Was I whinging about them? No. Merely saying I get stuck behind them all the time, I don't really care all that much, sometimes ai knock off early, sometimes I don't, sometimes I pass them, sometimes I don't. Check your negative attitude out my friend, like honestly, it's like you are using calculations to highlight my stupidness when all I've done is say what's going on with the turbines and how much it must cost to move them. You've got me with a full tangent when air wasn't even having a whinge. Me getting stuck behind them is not me whinging, like WTF it's midnight, it's all good. Like chill out, go have a coffee yourself. Jesus Christ bruh, seriously.
@@indiathylane2158 just a heap of patronising questions with questions marks, and even managed to involve a pie? You'd be the apple of your families eye, I'm betting Pie on it.
I study environmental engineering and I can only agree, there is nothing sustainable about any of this. It's just a cheap way of countering the loss of coal (that still has deep resources for the next 200 years) and oil, but they aren't interested about the environmental impacts of any of this, the only thing that matters is how much energy they can get out of this to make $$$. What I've learned in college is one thing: The environment doesn't cost anything! So capitalism doesn't give a shit about how the state of the environment looks like, it's just said for green washing courses.
2021, Scottish Forestry Department- "Last year, 10,660 hectares of new woodland was created - the equivalent of over 21 million trees in the ground". In one year. I think the trees might be winning, don't you?
Wind turbines are the new cathedrals, they are near every town and village, and they fulfill similar purpose to those Cathedrals of old, the worship of Gaia.
It reminds me of Wirrawong waste management when southern states dumped toxic waste when the Queensland government did not investigate what was in the waste. The southern states had draconian fees on them. Where are they from? Queensland does not have many old wind farms.
Wind and sunshine are not renewable but they are free. So is oil, natural gas, coal and uranium. The cost and processes used to extract usable energy from any of the above mentioned sources are not free or renewable. The important fact about the commodity molecules mentioned above is that “on demand” energy can be produced with them unlike wind and solar.
@@indiathylane2158 No, i dont think so. Even if australia cuts its emissions by %100, it wont make any diference to the worlds whether. I think renewables should be a work in progress, rather than shutting down reliable power. If the climate was such a concern, why dont activists protest out the front of chinese embassies?.
@@indiathylane2158 Remember this little gem you left me> Yeah, walk into a toilet stall, you can always tell when a RWNJ cooker has been there, by the graffiti on the wall. Crude, profane, poorly spelled... and they failed to flush. Those that inspect toilets find themselves looking into a mirror.
@@daniellebcooper7160 Thanks for sharing my work. The more folk who read my melodious prose, the more enlightenment I can spread. I'm like jesus, but without the B.O. and rotten teeth. The vilest shit I've ever posted can never equal what's in the dark, twisted souls of RWNJs on channels like these. Nor come close. Thoughts? If Australia ever appoints a Poet Laureate like the UK does, my chances of snaring the job are pretty good, aren't they?
@@daniellebcooper7160 Seriously? You don't know China is a murderous repressive regime that doesn't give a shit about what the world thinks? You might as well ask why not protest outside a closed embassy. Doesn't it make sense to protest near the representatives of nations who can be swayed?
Technically they could, but they'll produce a lot of harmful byproducts than pure plastics, and takes a lot of energy to do (requires more coal and oil plants).
Not to mention the sizable amount of oil these turbines need for servicing the moving parts and someone to climb to the top to do an oil change. Then you have to count the dead wildlife that gets chopped up flying through the blades moving at breakneck speed. What is the world coming to...so glad I was born a boomer and lived out the best part of the last 65 years.
Hi @Obsid_Ian, I’m an engineering undergraduate who specialises in energy. Your argument ignores basic relativity. I understand your concern for the environmental impact of wind blades but you completely ignore how they compare to existing systems. Essentially, making a perfect enemy of the good. You said that wind turbines chop up birds flying through them but 100s of millions of Australian birds are killed by cats and windows. Death by wind turbines are a mere drop in the ocean compared to existing man made causes of bird mortality. You also point out that fossil fuels are used to service and transport wind turbines. While true, you completely ignore the very existence of coal and gas. According to the NREL, renewables, despite manufacturing and disposal are magnitudes cleaner than coal and gas (Source: NREL, Lifecycle Harmonisation). I hope this clears up some misunderstandings you might have. But I am happy, that you are a Boomer who is also very concerned for our environment. That is quite rare.
@@sanitygone-l9y I would suggest you do some more research of your own to see the whole picture regarding wind turbines. I only mentioned one negative aspect there are many more for example: the noise created by engineers searching for the ideal location on the seabed is so disturbing for migrating whales that they have been responsible for hundreds of whales getting stressed, disorientated and unable to communicate with one another to the point that hundreds are beaching themselves and dying. Then you have the issue with turbines not being able to carry the loads to far away locations like in Scotland where they are pulling them down. Plus the blades are made from fiberglass and after a few years become fragile and break. Since they can't be recycled they are cut in half, transported and dumped in open locations and simply buried. That's called kicking the tin can down the road. Remember they are called wind turbines but they rely on coal to keep them running and when the turbines produce energy it mostly gets blown off at the power stations. I can go on but I think you get the idea.
@@Obsid_Ian Hi Obsid_Ian. Again I think your reply lacks quite a bit of nuance. There is no scientific evidence to support claims that wind development has anything to do with the whales washing up (National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, 2023). In fact, this is just a talking point Conservative commentators often try to bring up even when there is no evidence to support it. You also bring up the point that wind turbine blades can’t be recycled. Again you are missing the bigger picture. It is estimated that by 2050, that there will be 43 million tons of wind turbine blades in landfill. But by 2050, there will also be 12 Billion tons of plastic waste. Wind turbine blades will make up 0.3% of all landfill on Earth which is once again, just a drop in the ocean. However, you are right that the fact wind turbines cannot be recycled is a cause for concern. But methods are emerging such as in Finland where old turbine blades are used in the creation of concrete and decreases carbon emissions by 27%. You are also right that currently, wind turbines do rely on power from the grid which is right now, mainly provided through coal and gas. However, wind turbines add much more power to the grid than they use. As time goes by and we slowly begin to transition away from fossil fuels, less and less coal and gas will be used to power wind turbines making them greener and greener. I would like to once again reiterate the last point i made in my previous response. According to the NREL, renewables, despite manufacturing and disposal are magnitudes cleaner than coal and gas (Source: NREL, Lifecycle Harmonisation) and overtime wind turbines will become greener and greener. While they may not be a perfect solution, they don’t have to be. To reduce them to just “kicking the tin can down the road” is ignorant. I’d like to thank you again for your concern for the environment. It is nice to know another person cares.
when they claim any green energy life span normally that is under perfect conditions and maintenance. in reality its usually around 40% of that span. too hot bad, too cold bad, dust bad, rain bad, less wind bad, more wind bad, sunshine bad... its not to say that there isn't value in green energy, but when gov subsidies can be extorted on a grand scale the money doesn't go towards making a better product.
ALL of those "renewable" energy sources are just that by name. It is just like "recyclable plastic" a buzzword. The materials used for those blades are fused together to make them strong while still flexible, that is very hard to separate when trying to recycle them and solar panels are not much better in recyclability. The whole "renewable energy" feels to me like someone tries to start up a new business and now needs to generate buzz so consumers get aware of its products and buy in.
These are old, well used blades. Definitely dumped. There's no need for them to be "stored" because they will never be used again. I sure hope those blades can be disposed of / recycled properly. If they catch fire, it's going to create a huge toxic poisonous mess for the land, water ways, and air for many miles around.
yep a big hole in the ground but when it;s mined out they fill them in and replant forests on top. Pretty good actually. But hey those turbine blades will support vines so they'll be hidden while polluting the ground.
Put them up in the forested areas no one will see them plants will grow up and hide them. It’s like that everywhere there is renewable energy same with EV’s and solar panels
So QLD will clear millions of trees, in order to build wind turbines… in order to save the very environment that they just cut down to fill with wind turbines 🧐 makes perfect sense 🤪
Oh wow we are getting so upset about dumping wind turbine blades. Every man and woman dumps tonnes of plastic rubbish everyday and nothing is done about it. Oh wait we ship it to our poor neighbours to the north because we don't know what to do with it let them solve the problem
Why does this matter? The material is inert. Tech-illiterates should not have opinions. Smirking spokesthots even less so. It's in no one's way and can be ground up being inert as done elsewhere. Marine uses include artificial fish habitat which greatly boosts fishing (the reason the US sinks cleaned warships and armored vehicles as reef material).
So is the company going to provide all the emails about the turbine blades from 7 years ago as proof. Better have all the orginal embedded information in them to prove they are real.
the blades are on private property and the owner has not dumped them the wind farm did not dump them you trespassed. But i do agree the industry has sold us a lie if it sees a landfill inpart or as parts IT IS NOT GREEN TECH...
What NON RECYCLABLE WIND TURBINES in the jungle...? no environmental effect here.... just think of them like non rusting cars .... cant see green politicians anywhere in this defending the landscape of the site.... and where are the aboriginal heritage groups complaining about damage to country.... glad to see this because it means more NATIVE BIRDS are still alive !!!!
This all has to be replaced at the same rate installing now to maintain. When it's all installed start replacing 😌 the cost never ends because original price is never recovered. At this stage it's best for governments to take control of the grid and build nuclear power stations instead of all the subsidies. China power, 8c per mw Australia power 30-35 mw
