{"id":593,"date":"2022-03-02T15:27:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/engineers-are-building-bridges-with-recycled-wind-turbine-blades\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T15:27:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:27:40","slug":"engineers-are-building-bridges-with-recycled-wind-turbine-blades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/engineers-are-building-bridges-with-recycled-wind-turbine-blades\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineers are building bridges with recycled wind turbine blades"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/2\/11\/22929059\/recycled-wind-turbine-blade-bridges-world-first<\/a>
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On a former train track bed connecting the towns of Midleton and Youghal in County Cork, Ireland, workers recently excavated the rusted remains of an old railway bridge and installed a pedestrian one in its place. The bridge would have been an unremarkable milestone in the development of a new pedestrian greenway through the Irish countryside, if not for what it\u2019s made of: recycled wind turbine blades.<\/p>\n

That makes it just the second \u201cblade bridge\u201d in the world. The first, installed last October<\/a> in a small town in western Poland, officially opened in early January. The engineers and entrepreneurs behind these bridges are hopeful they represent the beginning of a new trend: repurposing old wind turbine blades for infrastructure projects<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It keeps them out of landfills and saves energy required to make new construction materials. When civil engineer Kieran Ruane first saw concept designs for a bridge built with wind turbine blades, he said the idea was \u201cimmediately appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a no-brainer that this needed to be investigated and trialed, at least,\u201d Ruane, a lecturer at Ireland\u2019s Munster Technological University and a member of Re-Wind<\/a>, the research network behind Ireland\u2019s new blade bridge, tells The Verge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Creative solutions will be necessary to deal with the wind turbine blade waste that\u2019s coming. Averaging over 150 feet in length<\/a> and weighing upwards of a dozen tons each<\/a>, wind turbine blades take up huge amounts of space in landfills. Once there, the ultra-sturdy, fiber-reinforced plastics they\u2019re made of don\u2019t break down easily. Decommissioned wind turbine blades, if they\u2019re not just stockpiled, are often destined for landfills today. The main alternative, incinerating them for energy, creates additional pollution.<\/p>\n

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