Environmental and Economic Assessment of Wind Turbine Blade Recycling Approaches.

ABSTRACT: Wind energy offers a low emission source of energy while also being among the cheapest forms of electricity generation in the United States. While most materials in a wind turbine can be recycled at the end of their life, large composite blades are often treated as waste, leading to potential strains on regional landfills, a loss of durable materials, and forfeiture of embodied energy. Numerous approaches exist for recycling composite wind blades at various levels of technological and commercial maturity. This study uses life cycle assessment to compare several promising recycling approaches as well as understand trade-offs between net greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs. Results include considerations for processing current glass-fiber blades with thermoset epoxy, upcoming deco

SUBMITTER: Sproul EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11770760 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature