This is a problem in the United States and the different instances where I have seen this first hand never seem to amaze me. Recently over the holiday weekend I had a conversion with an old lady who was interested in talking about  renewable energy. To sum up the conversation she thought that renewable energy was pointless and did not understand that the sun is energy.  I think the one comment she made that really proves my point about the misconception was when she told me that she heard that after wind turbines are “finished” that they are kept standing. First of all most wind turbines will be running for awhile unless certain circumstances occur, but 9/10 will run for much longer than the 20 years that the engineers are marked for the life of the turbine. 20 years is the standard for how long a turbine can run but its a low ball number and all it indicates is when some parts will need to have maintenance/repaired or replaced. Wind turbines that are community/utility scale are never left and abandoned like this lady believed. They are decommissioned just like a power pant.