They last longer than that, the 1990 ones are just being replaced. Don’t listen to Michael Moore, his really old ones maybe but certainly not current ones unless you can find an accurate report?
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Actually I dont listen too much to Michael Moore, but he does provide some insight that the MSM and especially the plebs in power wont so as I generally gloss over things from most angles and either through lack of intense knowledge or basically as in some technical subjects cant be arsed to read/listen to the blurb being bandied about.
Now on the subject of Wind power, during my work in Engineering i worked for a company in Germany who amongst other things manufacture Wind turbines. I was one of the folks doing the R & D for their then new drive train test systems. The knowledge I have is as follows (updated after a discussion with an ex colleague)
A good quality, modern wind turbine will generally last for upto 20 years , although this can be extended depending on environmental factors and the correct maintenance procedures being followed. However, the maintenance costs will increase as the structure ages.
Wind turbines are unlikely to last much longer than this because of the extreme loads they are subjected to throughout their lives. This is partly due to the structure of the turbines themselves, since the turbine blades and the tower are only fixed at one end of the structure and therefore face the full force of the wind. Of course, as the wind speed increases, so do the loads that turbines are subjected to. This can reach levels almost 100 times greater than the design loads at rated wind speed, which is why turbines are designed to shut down to protect themselves at higher wind speeds.
One of the primary factors that determine the lifespan of a wind turbine are the environmental operating conditions faced by the wind power industry. These conditions are site specific and include average wind speeds, turbulence intensities and (for offshore wind farm operators) the cyclic loading of foundations, jacket structures, and monopiles caused by waves.
In addition to these environmental factors, there are the usual concerns for any structure based around fatigue failure from use over the lifespan of the asset. These include a variety of different parts and components, from wind turbine blades to wiring and hydraulic systems.
Wind turbine blades are particularly prone to damage. As a moving component, the rotor blades are subject to higher levels of loading and fatigue, and can also suffer damage from birds or other objects striking them as well as the impact of high wind speeds or lightning strikes.
There are now (introduced over the last couple of years) monitoring systems on the blades using both sound and stress indicators which doesn’t alleviate the need for the arduous abseiling down the blades but does reduce it. I was also informed that there is a company now recycling parts of the time expired blades but that is all the info i have.
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Interesting and of course from an engineering perspective absolutely what you would expect. Amazing the amount of dirt loading that builds up on the reverse side of the blade and as you say maintenance is crucial.
It is also amazing on the positive side just how much these large wind turbines produce in electricity over their lifespan. All power stations need maintenance as my friend does at Dungeness.
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Shows you how big the blessed things are up close.
Huge!
The biggest one we produced for the port authorities in Hamburg was 120 m diameter. Each blade was around 50 m long and I could stand in the hub section. The dirty side of the blade is caused by cavitation like on a ships propeller. This happens on Propeller driven aircraft as well, even on jet engines the reverse side of the blades are always dirty.
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Last year I swapped all my milk for oatmilk. It’s cost me a bit more because the market is so biased toward dairy, but not only have I saved a couple of cows and about half a ton of methane, it’s brought my cholesterol right down to within a normal range for the first time in donkeys years.
I’ve now started replacing my cheese with vegetable sourced protein. Here in France it’s not very easy to source but it’s getting better. I like the vegan parmesan from supermarkets and the Tartare vegan Boursin style spread.
I’m more than willing to experiment with insect products when they come out. Especially for our adopted stray 
Waitrose has bought out a vegetable protein rump steak 
. I do wish French supermarkets would catch up on veggie options. It’s very lame in the Vienne 86. Can’t buy Quorn or any decent veggie sausages or bacon.
I think a huge way -one of the biggest- is transport. I’m saving for an electric retrofit van because I am rural and disabled so my vehicle is needed. Of I had the option, I’d do all my journeys on a folding e-bike and public transport. I do have one. It’s the best thing ever.
Slow cookers are great.
Microwaves are also energy saving.
Coffee: smaller doses of fresh coffee in a filter or machine are fine for me and using a flask to store the excess hot water. I was very surprised to learn that instant coffee is much greener than fresh!
Ooooooooooo have any of you spotted Envie? They’re fabulous. I bought a Bosch washing machine for 179€ and they’ve repaired it for free after we ruined it with a centime pièce stuck in the drum.
Leboncoin Emmaus, EasyCash, Backmarket Rainbow charity and our local secondhand shops all get me in before I visit a new product shop.
We also have a dry compost toilet which is possible because we are near a large sawmill for cedar sawdust.
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The dry compost idea sounds interesting. What are the rules on disposal?
You can just compost it on your land.
Full details can be found here…
Not sure that swapping for a processed food is that much better overall. I eat v little meat but when I do it comes from grass fed animals within about 15km radius. The rest of the time I cook other local seasonal things rather than use processed meat substitutes which often have high salt/sugar levels.
It’s a complicated set of factors to juggle with, and we each have to workout what we feel is best. But less transport, processing and packaging wins out for me.
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Yeah, seen that, was wondering about the French regulations.
What is normal? The only normal is set by the companies that make statins and they lower it when sales drop off. They have interested parties in the WHO group who naturally agree $$$.
The amount of cholesterol made by your body is irrelevant to what you consume as peer reviewed documents have said many times. Harvard medical school discovered many years back that your cholesterol levels reduce around 2 years before you die. Cholesterol is not the killer calcium and blood clotting factor is. Even in atherosclerosis cholesterol is only a small part of the process, calcium and clotted blood are the real dangers
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This, really. Cholesterol levels have been linked to stress, rather than diet.
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Thats interesting. It is an interesting topic, when I did my green smoothies in the morning my cholesterol went lower than ever before around 3.75 total chlolesterol. They know meat increases blood serum cholesterol a bit for a while but I havent read anythything relates it to nutrional density so requires more cholesterol compared lower level nutrition from veg. There are those with hyperchloesterolemia with very high levels but they do not necessarily die prematurely.
Why eat imitation meat when there is so much fantastic vegetarian food around which doesn’t pretend to be something else?
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If it helps ween someone off meat, why not?
@Rachman
Because rather than weaning them off meat it might put them off vegetarian food!
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Processed food is the route to illness be it meat of vegetarian. Keep it real, processed food diets require medication, real food is medication.
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While I admire you dedication to your life style, sweeping generalisations like you make above do you no favours.
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I used to visit Buddhist temples in China and often enjoyed lunch. Of course vegetarian but I am not sure if only for my ‘foreign’ sensibilities, featured an alarming array of ‘mock meats’.
Not that I would ever say anything at the time other than 多么精彩, “How splendid!”, I can heartily agree with Vero, when there are so many excellent veggie dishes in many cultures, that culinary efforts to provide imitation meat is a bit of a tragedy.
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