Wind Waste Plagues Countries That Shelled Out For ‘Green Energy’

Across Europe, countries that once went all in on wind power are now grappling with impending piles of discarded turbine parts and scrambling to find ways to recycle them, The Guardian reports.

One Scottish town is already struggling under the weight of wind turbine waste as other countries like Germany, Spain and Italy are investing in recycling efforts after pledging major investments in wind power, The Guardian reported. Europe has 14,000 wind turbines to dismantle by 2030, which will leave them with 44,000 to 66,000 tons of unrecyclable blade waste, according to WindEurope.

“Wind energy not only has a reliability problem; it has a recycling problem. … Proponents in Scotland and here in the U.S. say these structures have a 20-year lifespan. But many stop working within five to 10 years,” Director of Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation Gabriella Hoffman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The wind industry has a massive problem on their hands with turbine parts piling up in landfills. Trust in the industry is waning, since it’s a part-time energy source that produces expensive energy while utilizing large swaths of land. Wind energy is weather-dependent and can’t replace natural gas, nuclear, or coal to meet rising electricity demand. The U.K. must quit its addiction to net-zero and adopt an energy abundance posture.”