Originally Posted By Graham, G4FUJ
Originally Posted By BobtheTrain
I'm slightly concerned that all these wind farms are interrupting the natural wind flow.

More concerning is the environmental cost of all the concrete required to plant them...


Concrete gets a lot of bad publicity on its enviro impact, but is in fact nowadays very heavily regulated & TAXED

Aggregates if virgin come from quarries which have multiple enviro conditions to comply with including eventually turning the empty 'hole' into something nicely landscaped often with wetlands for birds
There is also a major push to use recycled and reprocessed aggregates from demolition arisings
Sands are sometimes sourced from dredgings taken from areas where it's extraction is beneficial to the environment

Cement is now blended with quite high percentages of what is know as 'replacements' these are treated ashes from power stations and steelworks & can reduce virgin cement use by up to 50%

Water used is also reduced by using special additives called water reducing agents, concrete plants also have to catch washdown water, this is then filtered and re-used in the next mix

And not forgetting concrete has a very long, low maintenance lifespan, and finally if ultimately demolished can again be crushed, 100% recycled & re-used

Jon M