There are cleaner ways to burn fossil fuels and capable carbon capture research that has produced scalable solutions to CO2 “pollution” if you think that’s a problem. Researchers in Michigan created a composite resin for Wind Turbine Blades that can be “recycled” into gummy bears.
To combat the waste, researchers designed a new form of resin. Digesting the resin in an alkaline solution produced potassium lactate, which can be purified and made into sweets and sports drinks.
“We recovered food-grade potassium lactate and used it to make gummy bear candies, which I ate,” said John Dorgan, one of the authors of the paper.
The alkaline digestion also released poly (methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, a common acrylic material used in windows and car taillights.
In fairness, one thing that makes Wind Power so dirty (aside from the steel, concrete, manufacturing, delivery, and installation (all of which require coal, oil, or gasoline to make them happen) is the turbine blades. When they are done giving the locals headaches and decimating the bird and bat populations, they must be buried. There are not reusable in any form. So, looking for ways to solve that problem is worthwhile if there is no escape from this madness.
But gummy bears?
He added: “The beauty of our resin system is that at the end of its use cycle, we can dissolve it, and that releases it from whatever matrix it’s in so that it can be used over and over again in an infinite loop. That’s the goal of the circular economy.”
No one asks or mentions what the “carbon footprint” is beginning and end of life for this amazing discovery. I bet we are looking at significant processing on both ends, which requires extensive facilities, a lot of chemistry, and reliable energy.
I hope they are not expecting the wind and solar farm-covered fruitless plains to provide the electricity needed to transition these things into existence and back into whatever they claim they can do afterward. That’s never going to happen because the people at the top don’t care if they are recyclable.
Maybe no one told them that?
