Remember 15 years ago when cargotecture was the “thing” and our resident architect blew the lid off the premise of upcycled ship containers being safe and eco friendly? There is such a lag on the concepts of design and the time it takes to make a dream reality –- meaning we are still seeing new cargotecture concepts brought to life, even though, maybe, it wasn’t such a great idea in hot countries. And some of the containers contained hazardous materials that should not be in contact with people. But what about decommissioned wind turbines?

Time for a new eco obsession? How about living in a wind turbine blade that has fulfilled its purpose of collecting energy? A new report from the US Department of Energy, the DOE, outlines recommendations that could increase the recycling and reuse of decommissioned wind energy equipment and materials to create a more circular economy and sustainable supply chain.

The research reveals that existing US infrastructure could process 90% of the mass of decommissioned wind turbines. However, the remaining 10% will need new strategies and innovative recycling methods to achieve a more sustainable wind energy industry. This research will help guide over $20 million in investments previously announced from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance technologies that address this gap.

Looking for recycling innovators and funding them too

“The US already has the ability to recycle most wind turbine materials, so achieving a fully sustainable domestic wind energy industry is well within reach,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Innovation is key to closing the loop, and this research will help guide national investments and strategies aimed at advancing technologies that can solve the remaining challenges and provide more affordable, equitable, and accessible clean energy options to the American people.”

The new Recycling Wind Energy Systems in the United States report provides an assessment of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) needs and gaps in existing wind energy-related supply chains to support the transition to a more sustainable and circular US wind energy industry. This is research that could easily be applied to other wind energy markets.

A team of researchers, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, developed the report. The effective reuse and recycling of wind system components, parts, and materials will rely on a combination of measures, including:

• Improved end-of-life decommissioning collection and scrap sorting practices.
• Strategic siting of recycling facilities.
• Expanded and improved recovery and recycling infrastructure.
• Substitution of hard-to-recycle and critical materials with more easily separable and affordable materials, improved component designs and manufacturing techniques, or the development of modular system components.
• Optimized properties of recovered materials for second-life applications.
• Greater access to wind energy waste streams and the equipment required to disassemble wind energy components.

Towers, foundations, and steel-based subcomponents in drivetrains offer the greatest potential currently to be successfully recycled, whereas blades, generators, and nacelle covers are likely to prove more difficult. Unless you want to live inside a wind turbine nacelle?

A nacelle is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as engines, fuel or equipment. You can see one above.

Recovering critical materials and alloying elements from generators and power electronics, such as nickel, cobalt, and zinc, will be crucial in establishing a circular economy for wind systems.

Short-term strategies for decommissioning include promoting blade production using more easily recyclable thermoplastic resins and reusing these resins in cement production, they write.

Thermoplastic-based blade recycling technologies, such as pyrolysis and chemical dissolution, could be viable medium- and long-term options. Other medium- and long-term solutions include high-yield techniques for separating compounds found in power electronics and hybrid methods for recycling permanent magnets.

Regional factors—such as material demand, disposal fees, transportation distances, and an available skilled workforce—will play vital roles in ensuring the success and cost-competitiveness of recycling wind energy components.

Funding for Wind Turbine Recycling

Research used to compile this report will be used to guide the development of the Wind Energy Recycling Research, Development, and Demonstration program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

DOE recently announced an investment of $20 million to improve the recycling of wind energy technologies. This effort, which focuses on enabling sustainable wind turbine components, enabling wind turbine material recycling and reuse processes, and qualifying recycled and recyclable material, will help increase the sustainability of wind energy materials and bolster the domestic supply chain. If you have a recycling solution, apply!

Applications are due on Feb. 11, 2025. You could make a new company out of a bold idea.

But let’s look at a consumer product for inspiration. Living in a wind turbine? As of today that’s possible.

The energy company Vattenfall and design studio Superuse converted a nacelle, the top part of a wind turbine, into a tiny house. This nacelle is 4 yards wide, ten yards long and three yards high and comes from a turbine that stood in Austria for 20 years.

With the tiny house, Vattenfall demonstrates how materials can be reused in innovative ways. The tiny house was on display during Dutch Design Week from 19 to 27 October.

Jos de Krieger, partner Superuse and Blade-Made: “At least ten thousand of this generation of nacelles are available, spread around the world. Most of them have yet to be decommissioned. This offers perspective and a challenge for owners and decommissioners. If such a complex structure as a house is possible, then numerous simpler solutions are also feasible and scalable.”

In collaboration with Reliving, the tiny house was furnished with sustainably produced and second-hand furniture, including a table made of circuform that incorporates material from a recycled wind turbine blade. The electrical installation was installed by Vattenfall subsidiary Feenstra.

The nacelle used for construction was taken from a V80 2MW turbine built at the Austrian Gols wind farm in 2005. During 20 years of faithful service, the turbine produced 73GWh of electricity, enough to power more than 29-thousand households for a year. The nacelle once stood at a height of 100 metres.

Dutch company Business in Wind decommissioned the wind farm and made the nacelle available for this project.

::Vattenfall

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A pasture system in Andorra, hay milk in Austria, areas growing chestnuts, white ginger and waxberries in China, flood-spreading gardens and a walnut cultivating region in Iran and an all-female fishery in the Republic of Korea –– these are all among the latest agricultural systems to be recognized by a UN group aiming to preserve and encourage traditional farming and fishing systems around the world. It’s like UNESCO but for food. The designation may help protect and fund such traditional cultures, but the UN groups have very little control in protecting systems, ecosystems and culture around the world.

We understood this when UNESCO heritage sites like Jonah’s tomb (from Jonah and the Whale in the Bible) were blown up in 2104 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Terrorists went from town to town wiping out Jewish, Christian and other non-Sunni Muslim religious and cultural sites in 2014 and 2015, videotaping their exploits the way in a similar fashion to the Palestinians who joined the Hamas raid on October 7, did to Israelis and foreigners in kibbutzes and at the Supernova dance party. These people will never return and the heritage sites lost forever in the name of extremism.

But the UN says that by recognizing and supporting agricultural systems, this know-how can be passed down from generation to generation, alleviating poverty and giving people a better chance of avoiding a life in violence. The Slow Food movement is doing something in Europe. Read about the Slow Cheese Winners of the World.

Like UNESCO heritage sites, the UN is recognizing sites of agricultural significance. They are called Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) – and are part of a new database created by the UN to recognize and support culturally-rich agricultural practices around the world.

The systems, formally designated during a meeting of the GIAHS Scientific Advisory Group taking place in Rome from November 7 to 10 included the first ones to be approved from Andorra and Austria. Meanwhile, additional sites in China, Iran and the Republic of Korea highlight the key role played by Asia’s traditional agricultural practices in food security and combating climate change and biodiversity loss.

Under the flagship programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the selection criteria stipulate that sites must be of global importance, have value as a public good, supporting food and livelihood security, agro-biodiversity, sustainable knowledge systems and practices, social values and culture as well as outstanding landscapes.

“Now over 20 years strong, GIAHS has proven to be a great model for showcasing longstanding practices to render agrifood systems more resilient to climate change,” said Maria Helena Semedo from the FAO.

With the newest addition to the global agricultural heritage systems list, FAO’s worldwide agricultural heritage network now consists of 86 systems in 26 countries around the globe.

Pasture systems in Andorra

The subalpine and supraforestal pastures of Andorra reflect the longstanding agropastoral system developed in this tiny landlocked country which lies almost 2,000 metres above sea level on average in the Pyrenees mountains. The local population has combined spontaneous pastures and cultivated feeding. This supports the production of livestock, bovines, ovines, horses, on free-range and extensive grazing, which can be traded for other goods and food with the neighbouring regions.

It is based on common lands and shared pastures, with the animals’ owners paying a shepherd or taking turns to protect herds from predators, freeing the rest of the farmers for other tasks.

Hay milk in Austria

The production of hay milk, from cattle fed on fresh grass and hay rather than fermented fodder, is as old as the keeping of dairy animals in Europe. Using hay as a nutrient-rich winter feed helps get ruminants through the vegetation-less cold season, thus ensuring the livelihood of farming families.

Hay milk used to make up most of Austria’s milk production but now it accounts for only 15 percent. Austria’s 6,500 hay milk farmers and 60 major processors have come together in the ARGE Heumilch Österreich community. It aims to preserve hay farming and communicate the benefits of this sustainable method so that a fair milk producer price can be obtained in the marketplace.

Chestnut, White Ginger and Waxberry heartlands in China

The Kuancheng Traditional Chestnut Eco-Planting System in northern China’s Hebei Province is located in one of the first and most important areas in China to cultivate chestnuts, dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 CE). A traditional cultivation system with chestnuts as the core together with other crops, medicinal materials, and poultry industries was gradually established.

It forms an important part of the global chestnut variety resource bank and it is rich in cultural content, respecting nature and based on a form of social organisation that promotes agricultural production.

The Tongling White Ginger Plantation System forms an important part of Southern China’s ginger planting area. There are 17 varieties of ginger in the Tongling White Ginger Plantation System, and white ginger is the main variety. Semi-late rice is the main crop for rice cultivation in Tongling, with fewer early-season and late rice varieties. There are 31 main varieties of rice.

Tongling has developed key techniques for ginger plantation including ginger pavilions for seed-preserving and germination-accelerating. There are many processing recipes dating back over nearly 1,000 years such as Salt-pickled Ginger, Sauced Ginger, Sweet-and-Sour Ginger, and Sugared Ginger.

The Xianju Ancient Chinese Waxberry Composite System in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province is in an area where the cultivation of these fruit trees dates back more than 1,600 years, with many villagers tending them in combination with tea, chickens and bees. There are 100,000 farmers in the GIAHS site, of whom 26,000 are engaged in waxberry cultivation, composite planting and breeding, and other related industries.

The site has accumulated a large number of ancient waxberry genetic resources with diverse types and rich varieties. In May 2015, China’s first county-level biodiversity conservation action plan was released by the local government of Xianju County.

Flood-spreading gardens and walnut cultivation in Iran

The traditional Gardens of Qazvin, northwest of Iran’s capital Tehran, are a flood-spreading system that dates back thousands of years. Situated in the foothills of the Alborz ranges, the creation of the gardens surrounding the city has protected its inhabitants from floods adapting to and taking advantage of the watershed to produce nuts and local delicacies.

By capturing, redirecting and sharing floodwaters, local communities have been able to cultivate and grow fruits all around Qazvin. Today, the system provides food and employment opportunities for people but also cools the temperature of the city and serves to replenish groundwater tables.

The Traditional Walnut Agricultural System in Tuyserkan, Iran is known not just for its walnut orchards but also for its delicacies as well as its landscapes and historical monuments.  Based on family-farming, the cultivation of walnuts supports the livelihoods of a major part of the households in the area.

This cultivation is mainly developed in valleys and is irrigated using water canals designed at different levels and fed mainly by rivers and springs as well as Qanats.  Among the local practices is irrigating walnut trees in the cold and frost season, which farmers believe helps to eliminate pests and diseases.

Unique all-female se women fisheries in the Republic of Korea

The Jeju haenyeo fishing practice is a traditional subsistence fishing system predominantly carried out by women. The Haenyeo” (“sea women” in Korean) dive underwater without the aid of breathing apparatus and collect seafood such as disk abalone, horned turban, and sea mustard. They have long been engaged in a half-farming and half-fishery lifestyle.

This system is believed to be the sole fishery globally that is managed solely by women. Its primary purpose is to serve as a source of household sustenance rather than engaging in commercial fishing.The diving skills and traditional wisdom of Jeju haenyeo represent a living social system that has been listed as an intangible world heritage by UNESCO.

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Largely considered an environmental “extra” and a way to upgrade green building ratings, new research from Abu Dhabi suggests that building integrated photovoltaics are not just a green luxury item. The recent Middle East-based study found that governments and builders might consider the expense of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) because in hot, sunny regions like the United Arab Emirates, these solar panels can slash energy costs by as much as 33 percent!

And while we root for local companies and suppliers, the best companies up for the challenge of lining the roofs, and sides of buildings with BIPV are companies from Europe, who have experience not only in choosy LEED-loving locations like London, but also with new clients in the Middle East.

The Austrian company ertex solartechnik is one of them. Dieter Moor, the CEO of ertex told Green Prophet (he is pictured below) that they recently completed a BIPV installation in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. The company installed 1030 efficient PV modules with an installed output of 149 kWp for the Sheik Zayad Learning Center at the Al Ain Zoo. The BIPV panels installed on the roof can be seen in the top image.

Dieter Moor walking “on” the roof of the Sheik Zayed Learning Center, inspecting the progress of the installation.

Moor tells us that the heat, the shape of the building and the immense amount of dust on the roof of this structure were challenges for his company to overcome when working with a Middle East client.

Of course creating a solution that needs to be shipped afar was also a challenge, but through working with a colleague who spoke the language and knows the culture, some of the obvious cultural barriers were overcome.

The project now complete and soon to be open to the public involved the redevelopment of the 40-year old Al Ain Zoo. The centre will be an exhibition and exploration of the natural and cultural history of the Arabian deserts, as well as deserts worldwide.

Knowing that dust cleaners would need to be a regular part of panel maintenance (cleaners would need to physically walk on them – could they employ monkeys to the job?), ertex custom-made panels with two layers of special tempered 2 mm glass, and strong enough to withstand 400 kilograms of weight –– which they tested in a lab using “human” boots.

As for the shape, non-functioning panels were put in places where part panels needed to be used.

Thanks in part to the ertex solution the Sheik Zayad building was recently awarded the Five Pearl Rating, the highest of the Estidama Pearl Rating System.

The Estidama system is the LEED for Gulf region countries.

Moor says that, “This building evaluation system is in principle comparable with the Austrian ÖGNI or German DGNB System and refers to the sustainability of the property.

Working with the company Enviromena, ertex had to work around a solution for a complicated building: “Everything was rounded,” Moor says, eventually finding a way to make rectangular panels fit into the undulating curves of the roof.

“Full coverage of the surface of the extraordinary building shape was possible and for architectural reasons, 121 special modules with a combined surface area of 1,140m² were manufactured. Due to the net energy production of circa 239,000kWh through the photovoltaic panels, the high sustainability rating can be maintained in the long run,” he tells us.

Surprise, surprise: lots of radiant sun isn’t always a bonus for BIPV: “High temperatures can have a negative effect on the solar cell semiconductors, making them less efficient,” Moor says.

So far ertex has clients around the globe from the UK (The Peak below was one of their projects), the US, Sudan and Turkmenistan to name a few. Their recently completed project in Abu Dhabi shows that they are ready to open their business doors to more Gulf countries looking to Estidama practices, and joining the global trend of environmental sustainability in buildings.

ertex installs BIPV at The Peak in London. Even odd-shaped PV panels were built to collect power. 

When price is no limit, why not?

ertex installs about 1.1 MW of energy per year, and while “most of our customers don’t care about the return on investment, it´s more a discussion about esthetically integration of PV,” says Moor, money put in on energy saved can be about 20 years.

Efficiency and electricity drops over time, so this is obviously an estimate, Moor, a married father of three, adds.

::ertex

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The largest simulated space mission stemming from Europe, Mars2013 took place near Erfoud in the northern Sahara throughout February this year. During that time, scientists experimented with a simulated spacesuit called Aouda.X, a temporary emergency shelter, some rovers, and a slew of communication technologies, in addition to exploring other issues that might come up on a real Mars mission.

The Northern Sahara desert’s geology and topography sufficiently resembles that of Mars, according to Gizmag, that the OEWF could get a realistic sense of how both the astronauts and their tools would perform on the fourth planet from the sun – at least a 150 day journey to its closest point using existing technology.

Tests examined issues related to “engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics, geology, life sciences and other fields,” according to Gizmag.

Albeit considerably lighter (and cheaper) than a genuine spacesuit, the Aouda.X helped astronauts understand how they would manage wearing a cumbersome, heavy (99lb) suit that restricts movement and puts stress on joints and fingers.

Mars2013 also tested a temporary emergency shelter designed by Vienna University of Technology students, which offers 48 hour protection in the event of a suit failure.

OEWF tested three rovers during their simulated mars mission, including the Cliff Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV) or Cliffbot, the Magma White rover and “Puli” – an unmanned rover with whegs that optimize its mobility.

Establishing some kind of communication link between the base station and astronaut crew is essential to any interplanetary mission, and also deeply challenging.

Gizmag reports:

The purpose isn’t just to maintain a link with mission control, but also to use the new technology to better manage multiple data and communication links between astronauts, machines and base.

More than just an Austrian mission, Mars2013 was made possible by input from 23 nations, including University College London, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Budapest.

For a more detailed analysis of the Mars2013 mission, please head over to Gizmag, from where this post is adapted.

All images via Katja Zanella-Kux from OeWF

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An 8,400 square meter cemetery for Islamic burials in Austria reinforces humanity’s connection to nature until the end. A tranquil design flawlessly executed by Bernardo Bader with an applaudable combination of simplicity and reverence, the cemetery built in Vorarlberg features a series of variously-sized walls that not only separate the cemetery from the surrounding landscape, but also gently cordon off grave burials.

In its purest form, Islam (like most religious and spiritual ideological systems), calls for humanity to retain their connection to the earth. That we are custodians of the planet is an idea that is expressed in numerous Quranic tenets.

Bearing this in mind, Bader aimed to design a cemetery for Muslim residents living in Altach, Austria that would be a gentle reflection of this powerful and largely overlooked sense of responsibility.

Unlike some embarrassingly overdone monuments to the dead, a series of elegant walls depicting intricate designs very similar to the Mashrabiya screens that help to facilitate natural light and ventilation in mosques and homes in the Arab world.

It is at once a tasteful intervention that minimizes site impact while also creating intimate spaces that allow families to mourn their loss in a magical alpine environment.

See how this cemetery compares with Zoroastrian burials in Iran.

Cemetery blueprint

Images via Adolf Bereuter, Nikolaus Walter, Peter Allgäuer, Bernardo Bader

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Tafline reported last week on the unusual and super neat project of Pixel Hotels. The idea started in Linz, Austria where unconventional and unused urban properties like garages or spaces within galleries – like a trailer in a gallery – is converted into micro-hotel rooms for unconventional tourists. I stayed in a room in a castle in Syria, all alone with my travel mate Kara about ten years ago. And it was a true in your face cultural experience with Syrian ghosts and all, but this new Pixel Hotel concept is a gorgeous green way to change the face of bland and severely overpriced hotel rooms. Read on for pictures and more.

Three Israelis applied for the license: Lila Chitayat, Anat Safran and Alon Chitaya, and now working with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Atlas Hotel chains the group are making Pixel Hotels in Tel Aviv. They won’t be like Linz, but fashioned in the Israeli spirit.

I spoke with a rep from the Atlas Hotels this week Michael Hay and he told me that the first hotel, on a trial basis, will be built on the beach of Tel Aviv.

A lifeguard shack not in use in the winter months December through March will be converted into a one room hotel. Exclusive pictures above and below. The buff Israeli lifeguards who have no compunction about telling kids and parents how to behave on the beach, are also known for their stud-muffinness. They will most likely enjoy the cabin post-conversion more than any tourist. Pretty swanky.

The team of artists and partners also plan on converting spaces in the Jaffa Port into hotels, as well as the old water towers dotted throughout the city.

I *heart* water towers and have always dreamed of living in one. Either a water tower or a lighthouse. Pixel people: please invite us Green Prophets for a stay once your fabulous eco projects come to life!

::Pixel Hotels

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