Parking building made using decommissioned wind turbines
(Illustratie: Niels Bohr/Loyds Arkitektkontor)
January 23, 2024 – In a new high-tech neighbourhood in Lund in Southern Sweden, turbine blades from a decommissioned wind farm will become a very visible part of the façade of an eco-friendly multistorey car park.
Wind turbine blades are made to deliver electricity and withstand tough weather for decades. Much like when building an aeroplane, composite materials are used. Materials such as glass fibre, carbon fibre, epoxy resin, balsa wood, metals and various fillers are pressed tightly together in layers, making the blades extremely durable but difficult to recycle.
Architect Jonas Lloyd of Lloyd’s arkitektkontor now wants to use turbine blades from Vattenfall’s decommissioned Danish wind farm Nørre Økse Sø to build the curtain walls or non-structural walls of the parking garage facade. The roof will be covered with solar panels, and batteries will store the electricity generated for cars that are usually charged at night.
According to the architect, the sawn turbine blades are perfect for a parking garage, because the walls must be open due to explosion and fire hazards. Moreover, according to him, the reuse of the rotor blades means double benefits for the environment and climate. The first benefit is the environmentally friendly reuse of a large, discarded object; the second advantage is that no other building materials are needed that potentially have a very large climate footprint, such as concrete or steel.
(Illustration: Niels Bohr/Loyds Arkitektkontor)
