End-of-Life alternatives for wind turbine blades: Sustainability Indices based on the UN sustainable development goals

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dc.contributor.authorDeeney, Peter
dc.contributor.authorNagle, Angela J.
dc.contributor.authorGough, Fergal
dc.contributor.authorLemmertz, Heloisa
dc.contributor.authorDelaney, Emma L.
dc.contributor.authorMcKinley, Jennifer M.
dc.contributor.authorGraham, Conor
dc.contributor.authorLeahy, Paul G.
dc.contributor.authorDunphy, Niall P.
dc.contributor.authorMullally, Gerard
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderInvest Northern Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderDepartment for the Economyen
dc.contributor.funderNational Science Foundationen
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-13T10:45:44Z
dc.date.available2021-05-13T10:45:44Z
dc.date.issued2021-05-12
dc.date.updated2021-05-13T10:16:20Z
dc.description.abstractThe background to this research is that across the world there will be 200,000 tonnes of wind turbine blade waste to be disposed of each year from 2033. The purpose of the research is to compare the relative sustainability of alternative ways to deal with this waste, these being: landfill, incineration with heat recovery, co-processing in cement kilns, making furniture and bridge fabrication. The method is to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to select 11 metrics for sustainability. The use of the SDGs adds to the objectivity of this process overcoming one of the principal weaknesses of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Quantitative information methods from Life Cycle Assessment, Geographic Information Science, census data and real options analysis of R&D, alongside qualitative information from Delphi studies and Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats analysis are combined in the assessment. Three MCDA methods are used, each calculates economic, social and environmental sustainability indices for the end-of-life alternatives which are then combined into integrated sustainability indices. A novel Delphi stopping condition based on consensus, consistency and convergence is used. The primary result is that bridge fabrication is the most sustainable alternative with furniture making in second place. Co-processing, incineration with heat recovery and landfill are progressively less sustainable alternatives. This result is robust to substantial changes in the selection of experts’ opinions, the weights for MCDA and the values of the metrics. These findings offer researchers and policymakers a robust decision making process, applicable to situations where choices are made on sustainability criteria.en
dc.description.sponsorshipScience Foundation Ireland (Re-Wind Project, Grant 16/US/3334); InvestNI/Department for the Economy (DFE Grant USI-116); U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants numbers 1701413 and 1701694)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid105642en
dc.identifier.citationDeeney, P., Nagle, A. J., Gough, F., Lemmertz, H., Delaney, E. L., McKinley, J. M., Graham, C., Leahy, P. G., Dunphy, N. P. and Mullally, G. (2021) 'End-of-Life alternatives for wind turbine blades: Sustainability Indices based on the UN sustainable development goals', Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 171, 105642 (14 pp). doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105642en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105642en
dc.identifier.endpage14en
dc.identifier.issn0921-3449
dc.identifier.journaltitleResources, Conservation and Recyclingen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/11309
dc.identifier.volume171en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.relation.urihttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344921002512
dc.rights© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectComposite recyclingen
dc.subjectGlass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP)en
dc.subjectDelphi studyen
dc.subjectMultiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)en
dc.subjectLife Cycle Assessment (LCA)en
dc.subjectGeographic Information Science (GIS)en
dc.titleEnd-of-Life alternatives for wind turbine blades: Sustainability Indices based on the UN sustainable development goalsen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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