Читать книгу Plastics and the Ocean - Группа авторов - Страница 35

Wind turbines generate about 11% of the energy used in the US (especially electricity) and 10–15% of that in Europe. It is the fastest‐growing renewable energy source at this time, but they have significant infrastructure costs. Blades of windmill installations span 100–150 ft and have to be made of a lightweight material such as wood. Polymer composites fit the requirement ideally, and glass fiber, carbon fiber, aramid, and basalt fibers are used to reinforce either thermoplastics or thermoset polymers in the design of windmill blades (Mishnaevsky et al. 2017). Plastic blades can be conveniently molded into the complex aerodynamic geometries and are now beginning to be even recycled.

Plastics also play a significant role in the design of photovoltaic (PV) panels for production of solar energy. The active layer is encapsulated in plastic, sealing it from moisture and oxygen. Other parts of the module such as the back sheet, adhesive, and the protective film over glass, are made of plastics in modern PV modules. Another application of plastics in the energy industry is their use as a transparent exposure chambers for suspensions of microalgae in vertical algae farms employed in biodiesel production. To get high yields of oil, it is important to have a monoculture of selected oil‐rich algae, by growing them in media enclosed in thin plastic tubes or bags and exposed to solar radiation. With hundreds of closely spaced transparent algae bags exposed outdoors, plastic (rather than glass) is best suited for the application.