Hazardous particles from wind turbine rotor blades
The new research on microplastics in the environment is quite uncomfortable for both the wind power industry and our rulers
Last week I drew attention to the health risks of microplastics and that no one in a decision-making position is doing anything to prevent the spread despite all the warnings from doctors and scientists who, among other things, have found the nasty stuff in the human body as well as in placentas, where the wind turbines that our politicians put on pedestals play a big role.
In addition to previously known facts that wind power contributes to harming both wildlife and marine life, has low reliability, destroys the local environment with its noise, creates problems with non-recyclable rotor blades and lowers the market value of nearby houses, a new study shows that even pollution and poisoning of nature on land and in waterways is yet another negative aspect to add to the list.
What is particularly noteworthy is that both political and economic forces tried to stop the as-yet-unpublished study by exerting pressure so that funding for the study was withdrawn.
Researcher Helen Karlsson, adjunct assistant professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Linköping University, however, together with research colleagues physicist Karin Mattsson and Professor Joachim Sturve, who are both active at Gothenburg University, managed to solve the financing in another way and now the study is complete.
The researchers feel that the findings are so serious and numerous that they wonder why this has not been investigated before. The fact that neither the wind power industry nor those in power who push the green transition want the public to find out how things are is of course a factor.
The researchers have been able to establish that dangerous particles from the rotor blades of wind turbines are likely to be an environmental problem that other researchers and authorities have deliberately chosen to underestimate.
Helen Karlsson, one of the initiators of the study, says that she became interested in the issue of erosion from wind turbine rotor blades when she discovered that there were discrepancies between the wind industry’s figures and other calculations.
Both she and her research colleagues are surprised by the result as they had not expected to find as many fragments from rotor blades as they actually did when examining the area around one of Sweden’s largest wind farms.
About 50 different chemicals were found in the particles collected in soil, water and plants around the large wind farm.
The probability is high that they originate from the wind vortices and given that the government is pushing for further expansion of wind power, according to the researchers, it is necessary to better document how big the impact will be, which they want to follow up through in-depth analyzes to determine how big the environmental problem is.
The Chemicals Inspectorate admits that there are large gaps in knowledge regarding which and how large amounts of hazardous substances are found in wind turbine rotor blades and how much of this ends up in nature and the food chains, but they see no obstacle to the continued expansion of wind power in Sweden, which is in full swing both at land as at sea.
As in so many other cases, our decision-makers have not done their homework but, in classic Swedish fashion, skipped the impact analysis before taking action, and considering how much kickbacks they receive for their “commitment”, they don’t seem to be the least bit interested in stopping anything which endangers the health of citizens and destroys nature – if nothing else, in the long run it can be a successful combination that benefits the pharmaceutical industry.
Win-win for everyone.
See more here nyadagbladet.se
Some bold emphasis added
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“For wind turbines to be considered totally sustainable they must be built from 100% recyclable products.”
https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/can-wind-turbine-blades-be-recycled
This is not correct. Energy used in the initial construction phase, and continuing maintenance must also be sustainable. That means all energy used must come from ‘renewable’ sources, and that is just a pipe dream, not to mention raw materials smelting etc.
These windmills can’t even sustain their own power requirements.
For the money these wind companies are getting, all installations should be repairable for the foreseeable future so they are not simply torn down and rebuilt, or abandoned. Value for money? Of course, that doesn’t factor in and planned obsolescence is the order of the day.
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