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A Follow-Up on a Sour Not-So-Green Clean Up in Sweetwater
Hot Air ^ | 07/09/2026 | Beege Welborn

Posted on 07/10/2026 3:34:22 AM PDT by Adder

At the beginning of April, I did a little roundup of the current waste-disposal difficulties renewables were facing, both in solar and in the wind industry.

The solar nightmare is incoming...

By 2050, the estimated total boundary area required for 1.5 million wind turbines is expected to reach 3.1 to 4.6 million square kilometers - the combined size of India and Argentina.

The obvious question regarding this transition—with its towering turbine skeletons, virtually indestructible composite blades, and billions of solar panels—is this: Just where will all this metal, silicon and concrete be buried?

(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...


TOPICS: Science; Society
KEYWORDS: greenwaste
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Seems to me, the turbine blades, at least, are pretty inert and the holes can be sealed to prevent becoming habitats for nuisances like snakes.

So I am not sure why they have to be buried...maybe store them like they do old airplanes?

1 posted on 07/10/2026 3:34:22 AM PDT by Adder
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To: Adder

My first thought was at sea. but I’m sure Greenpeace would have a problem with that.


2 posted on 07/10/2026 3:46:12 AM PDT by omni-scientist
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To: Adder

And then what?

L


3 posted on 07/10/2026 3:46:17 AM PDT by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. LOL l)
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To: Adder

Grind up those blades and mix the pulp in concrete or asphalt


4 posted on 07/10/2026 3:51:57 AM PDT by mythenjoseph (Islam is not compatible within a free society.)
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To: Lurker

Then...nothing?


5 posted on 07/10/2026 3:52:22 AM PDT by Adder ("A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.” GW.)
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To: Adder

Throw it all off of a cliff with a starter rope attached to a generator to get free electricity, then make those persons who forced the efface of original use cost benefit haul the mess back up and do it again


6 posted on 07/10/2026 4:02:07 AM PDT by Recompennation ( Deeeeeeeeezout)
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To: Adder
Has any one calculated the total Weather-Climate impact of 1.5 million wind turbines?

Removing that much wind energy from the atmosphere has to create some destructive or undesirable consequences.

7 posted on 07/10/2026 4:32:08 AM PDT by zeestephen (2024 Trump Landslide - Kamala Harris Lost By 230,000 Votes In WI, MI, and PA.)
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To: Adder

Cut them into car-sized pieces and put them in front yards of any member of Congress that voted for the funding of these wretched behemoths.


8 posted on 07/10/2026 4:43:36 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
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To: zeestephen

Wow! Good chuckle on that one!


9 posted on 07/10/2026 5:20:14 AM PDT by linedrive ( )
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To: Adder

the estimated total boundary area required for 1.5 million wind turbines is expected to reach 3.1 to 4.6 million square kilometers - the combined size of India and Argentina.


What does the above mean? What is the “total boundary area”?

It is probably the area around a wind turbine which has to be clear for the turbine to operate effectively.

It seems a fairly meaningless number.

Someone asked what happens when the energy from the wind is extracted from the atmosphere. Wind energy ultimately is converted to friction, hence to heat. The energy extracted from the atmosphere by wind turbines also ends up as heat.

So the end result is the same, but the heat will be distributed a bit differently at first.

It is also likely there will be a little less wave action or overall wind speed in the atmosphere. As 4.6 million square km is less than 1% of the world’s surface, the difference is probably too small to be measurable.


10 posted on 07/10/2026 5:20:26 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: Adder
Just where will all this metal, silicon and concrete be buried?

Canada. Or...Greenland?

11 posted on 07/10/2026 5:58:20 AM PDT by Kudsman (John (no can do) Thune. Where ya at John? We need you John. Send help John . Send up a flare John!)
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