How renewable are renewables?

Wind and solar power will play a crucial role in curbing climate
change, but what happens to all the worn-out turbines and
photovoltaic panels once they are past their best?


Most wind turbine blades are almost impossible to recycle, and
solar panels are very expensive to disassemble, but efforts are
under way to prevent a possible renewable waste mountain.


Presenter Graihagh Jackson hears how old wind turbine blades are
being turned into everything from bridges to flowerbeds, and we
visit one of the world’s only solar panel recycling facilities.
Plus – what’s the carbon footprint of a wind turbine or a solar
panel in the first place?


Plus we hear from listeners Prateek, Alex and Elle.


Let us know what you think about the show – email
theclimatequestion@bbc.com


Contributors: Paul Leahy, lecturer in wind energy at University
College Cork, Republic of Ireland, and principal investigator at
Re-Wind; Ute Collier, deputy director of the Knowledge, Policy
and Finance Centre at the International Renewable Energy Agency,
Abu Dhabi; Guy Chichignoud, chief technology officer, ROSI,
France; Vivian Jia Tong Li, campaigner for Greenpeace East Asia,
Beijing.


Producer: Simon Tulett Researchers: Matt Toulson and
Pierre-Antoine Denis Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Simon
Watts Sound engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators -
Siobhan Reed and Sophie Hill