What happens to decommissioned wind turbines and blades? Some are finding new life as buildings.
Europe is on track for a record wind year, with 8.8 GW of new capacity installed in the first half of 2026 – a 30 per cent jump year on year.
That’s enough electricity to power around seven million European households and replace fossil fuel imports equivalent to 25 LNG tankers a year, according to industry nonprofit WindEurope.
But every turbine that goes up eventually means one coming down – and manufacturers are still working out how to make sure none of the materials go to waste.
The blades aren’t worth much, you can probably just shred it and turn it into fiberglass insulation.
fiberglass insulation works because of 2 things, glass’ low thermal conductivity, but especially because all the air trapped between all the thin strands. Shredding these would create a mainly compact granulate/dust, and a shit ton of microplastics.
Yeah fiberglass insulation is loose strands. Fiberglass as a building material is woven into fabric, then rigidized with epoxy. You can’t turn it back into strands.
Yeah, you would probably have to reprocess it or use it as a some lower quality filler.