Startup Converts Used Wind Turbine Blades Into Boats, Recycling Fibreglass And Resins
Startup converts used wind turbine blades into boats, recycling fibreglass and resins
Individual sheets of fibreglass are notoriously difficult to recycle. Once layered together with resin — to form bathtubs, roofing panels, or aircraft components — peeling them back apart usually means shredding the end product into tiny pieces, then submerging them in tubs of heated solvent under high pressure. Needless to say, the recovered shreds of fibre and glass are not especially useful, or cheap.
This is a problem for the wind industry, whose turbine blades are essential hundred-metre-long, fibreglass tubes. Once they’ve served their 30-year-lifespans, unloading them on landfills is unpopular at best, banned (in some countries) at worst.
Getting around the “submersion problem” took a team of boatbuilders from Pleasantville, Nova Scotia to work out. While researching sustainable boat materials, Nick Bigeau — a professional boatbuilder for 15 years — came across recyclable resins, and the possibility of recovering and reusing intact sheets of fibreglass from otherwise inseparable end products.
“I had this idea of building a 17-foot boat with these resins,” says Bigeau. “Then I’d recycle it and build a replica from the recycled materials.”
Their “eureka moment” came in December 2022, and by September 2023, their new recycling method — called ReceTT — was patent-pending under the auspice of their new venture, Resolve Composites. It’s around this time that Bigeau became aware of the wind industry’s plight, and the potential of ReceTT to change the game. Why recycle a boat into a boat, he thought, when they could recycle a blade into a boat?
Siemens Gamesa is the second largest wind turbine manufacturer on the planet, and is leading the charge on recyclable resins in the wind industry. Recognizing the potential of ReceTT, in October 2023 they gifted Resolve Composites a 20-foot section of blade, 27 layers of fibreglass deep, held together by recyclable resin. By January 2024, Bigeau and his team had broken the blade into 162 kilograms of reuseable fibreglass sheets.
With this fibreglass, they’re constructing the hull of a Bantam Bay 17 Skiff, a project equal parts demonstration and experimentation — showing off the work of ReceTT while at the same time refining their methods.
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Image: clipart-library.com “carrying their empty fists of sorrow everywhere” Francisco X. Alarcon Towards A New ManifestoHow strangethat we can think and feelyet still be so utterly dumb,completely unawareof the fibres of prejudicethat infiltrate and lurkin our very being.Not all Jews are zionistsnot all Muslims are terroristsnot all Christians are fundamentalistsmost refugees are only…
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Sports have gotten more and more environmentally friendly, whether it's by reducing plastic waste at arenas, or producing medals with recycled materials. But what if the sport itself was devoted to directly helping the planet? Take a look at SpoGomi, a competitive sport in which teams collect garbage and litter within a time limit and specified area. People get to exercise and improve their communities while simultaneously reducing pollution. It's an overall win!
The name “SpoGomi” comes from “sports” and “gomi,” which means “trash” in Japanese. SpoGomi was created in Japan in 2008 as a way to promote trash collecting in an effort to aid the environment and push back on the climate crisis. “The marine litter problem is becoming increasingly serious worldwide,” reads a message from SpoGomi. “Approximately 80% of the garbage in the ocean is said to come from land (cities), and picking up garbage is the ‘last line of defense' to prevent this from happening. By connecting countries and people, we have expanded our circle even further around the world.”
Now, supported by The Nippon Foundation, the sport is so popular that there are competitions around the world, including the first SpoGomi World Cup, which was held in Japan in November 2023. People from 20 countries and all of Japan's prefectures participated, with the UK team coming out in first place.
SpoGomi is more than simply picking up trash, though, as there's a whole set of rules. These game rules are flexible depending on the area and litter to be picked up. Generally, teams are made up of three to five members who have to collect as much trash as possible within a designated area and time limit. The most common duration is an hour for picking up trash plus another 20 minutes to correctly sort it.
Some trash can be extra damaging to the environment or harder to spot, meaning each piece of litter gets a different amount of points. According to Nippon.com, the rules for World Cup regional preliminary rounds have burnable and nonburnable trash at 10 points per 100 grams, cans and bottles at 12 points, and PET plastic bottles at 25 points. The crown jewel of competitive trash picking are cigarette butts, which will get the team 100 points each.
Other rules stipulate that teams cannot pick up trash that is already in bins that belong to someone else. Since everything must fit into the trash bags that are provided, they cannot pick hazardous waste or bulky items either. And since this is meant to improve the local area, any method of transportation other than walking is frowned upon.
In the end, all participants can bask in the pride of making the environment just a little bit cleaner and healthier. Udagawa Takayasu, a spokesperson for The Nippon Foundation, even admits, “I participated in a preliminary tournament held in Japan just last weekend. Although our team could not win and I faced frustration, the city became markedly cleaner. I think it's one of the fascinating aspects of SpoGomi, even if you don't win, it leaves you with a positive sentiment.”
-via My Modern Met, May 20, 2024
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Hell yeah, gamify this shit!
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Weather permitting, people throughout most of North and Central America, including all of the contiguous United States, will be able to view at least a partial solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse is when the Moon only covers part of the Sun. People in Hawaii and parts of Alaska will also experience a partial solar eclipse. Click here to learn more about when and where the solar eclipse will be visible: go.nasa.gov/Eclipse2024Map
Not in the path of the eclipse? Join us online to watch the eclipse with NASA. Set a reminder to watch live: https://go.nasa.gov/3V2CQML
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(via I Would - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon)
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