The ingenious Niels Bohr parking garage in Lund, Sweden, is made in part from old wind turbine blades donated by energy firm Vattenfall.
Municipal parking company LKP unveiled the garage in the Brunnshög district as part of the way it's helping Lund to meet sustainability goals. The project is also a solution for a growing waste stream. Turbine blades are made from thermoset plastic and fiberglass, which are durable materials — and tough to recycle. Some countries bury them in landfills or incinerate them, according to LKP.
Niels Bohr garage has six floors with 265 parking spaces, as announced by LKP in December, before the building's opening.
Vattenfall donated 57 blades to the project from the decommissioned Nørre Økse Sø wind farm. Many were cut apart and placed in V patterns along the garage's facade as part of a non-load-bearing exterior. They are accompanied by large plant boxes with vegetation that is friendly to pollinators. What's more, 40 parking spots have electric vehicle chargers, powered by rooftop solar.
"It's a very smart idea and a really nice building," Vattenfall's Anne Mette Traberg said in a press release.
It's not Vattenfall's only foray into innovative part reuse. A past project provided turbine nacelles — pod-like top sections — to make tiny homes. The Niels Bohr building's architect Jonas Lloyd said that he was inspired to use blades for the garage after reading about recycling problems in the United States.
"I read that in the U.S., many of the blades are buried, and I thought they could be put to better use. It's not just an environmental problem, but also a waste," Lloyd said.
Last year, the Department of Energy reported that about 90% of a turbine's material mass can be recycled with existing infrastructure. The other 10%, including blades, requires some troubleshooting.
"The U.S. already has the ability to recycle most wind turbine materials, so achieving a fully domestic wind energy industry is well within reach," said Jeff Marootian, at the time an official with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
In Europe, 80 of the 290 gigawatts of currently deployed wind energy tech will reach the end of its "theoretical" lifetime by 2030, though most of the turbines will remain active, according to industry advocate WindEurope.
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$200 or more 💰 Still, the organization estimated that about 60,000 tons of blades will be decommissioned per year by 2030. Europe's wind industry started a self-imposed ban on dumping old blades in landfills on Jan. 1. Fortunately, WindEurope echoed the U.S. government's assessment that about 90% of the towers' material mass can be recycled.
Niels Bohr garage is a great example of an outside-the-box solution for blades, which are likely to expand in number.
Ember reported that wind and solar are among a "rapidly" growing group of cleaner energy sources. The pair are also relatively cheap and fast to deploy — with wind accounting for 8% of global electricity generation in 2024, per Ember.
Stateside, policies have shifted to favor oil, coal, and gas, which create harmful air pollution when burned for energy. Staying up to date on government policy can help you make informed decisions about regulations worth supporting, advocacy options, and even investment strategies with companies that share your values.
At LKP, some unused blades are waiting for an innovative project. CEO Paul Myllenberg said that his team is crowdsourcing ideas.
"We have launched a competition where people can submit suggestions on how the blades can be used," he noted in the Vattenfall news release.
The winner will get free parking for a month.
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