What happens to decommissioned wind turbines and blades? Some are finding new life as buildings.
Europe is on track for a record wind year, with 8.8 GW of new capacity installed in the first half of 2026 – a 30 per cent jump year on year.
That’s enough electricity to power around seven million European households and replace fossil fuel imports equivalent to 25 LNG tankers a year, according to industry nonprofit WindEurope.
But every turbine that goes up eventually means one coming down – and manufacturers are still working out how to make sure none of the materials go to waste.
I’m a big fan of this idea.
This sounds like cargo container housing all over again.
But they’re at least much larger and better built - all the “new” containers you can buy in the use are built as one trip containers in China - sure they seem in good condition, but their longevity is suspect.
I’d get motion sick.
The blades aren’t worth much, you can probably just shred it and turn it into fiberglass insulation.
Glamping, maybe. Clearly not houses.
Four metres wide, 10 metres long and three metres high,
this one is larger (by about 25%, and excluding the also higher ceiling) than my walk-up apartment.
It’s a touch larger than my apartment, too, and with no upstairs neighbors…
Larger than my apartment as well. My place is an ADU (additional dwelling unit). It was previously a garage.
A nice, long house like that is begging to be turned into a passive-solar house.
I’d rather have had that when I was living out of my car.
Perfect for housing the homeless. Better than no home.
There seems to be a big market for tiny homes among older single people especially women. Like containers, there should be no problem in linking a couple or pods to create a bigger space.
An interesting guest house if nothing else though if want to set up plumbing
It’s the perfect guest house. Separate from the main house and not comfortable for long term visits.
Nakagin Capsule Tower, thou art avenged
Cool, but why can’t the housings be reused for replacement turbines?
By the time one of these housings is getting phased out, the turbine design is years or decades out of date. The internal components are all going to be different. The exterior of the housing is also part of the airflow design.
Considering the amount of torque being applied to the components in the housing by the rotor, it probably wouldn’t be safe to drill new mounting holes in an old housing to fit a new generator &etc.
Get George Clarke to do one of these
