Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies

Front Cover
Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies
Copyright Page
Contents
List of contributors
About the editors
Section A
1 Introduction: environmental assessment of renewable energy and storage technologies: current status
References
Section B
2 Life cycle analysis of photovoltaic systems: a review
2.1 Introduction: European Union roadmap for energy and carbon emissions
2.2 PV system description
2.3 The methodology: life cycle analysis
2.4 Inventory analysis
2.5 Impact assessment
2.6 Conclusions—further research
Nomenclature
References
3 Life cycle assessment review in solar thermal systems
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Building-integrated solar thermal collectors
3.2.1 Flat plate solar thermal collectors
3.2.2 Evacuated tube solar thermal collectors
3.3 Building-added solar thermal systems
3.3.1 Flat plate solar thermal collectors
3.4 Evacuated tube solar thermal collectors
3.5 Conclusions
Nomenclature
References
4 Environmental assessment of wind turbines and wind energy
4.1 Introduction
4.2 State-of-the-art on wind turbines and wind energy
4.3 Life cycle inventory of wind turbines and wind energy
4.4 Life cycle assessment of wind turbines and wind energy
4.4.1 Key parameters in the implementation of life cycle assessment studies
4.4.2 Significant findings from previous life cycle assessment studies
4.5 Critical review on the environmental assessment of wind turbines and wind energy
4.5.1 Shared challenges related to life cycle assessment
4.5.2 Technology-specific challenges related to life cycle assessment
References
5 Environmental assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes through a life cycle perspective
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Life cycle assessment of biomass conversion routes
5.2.1 Goal and scope definition
5.2.1.1 Functional unit
5.2.1.2 Boundaries
5.2.2 Life cycle inventory
5.2.3 Life cycle impact assessment
5.2.4 Interpretation of results
5.3 Life cycle assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes
5.3.1 Conversion of biomass to biofuels through pyrolysis
5.3.2 Conversion of biomass to syngas via gasification
5.3.3 Overview of selected studies
5.3.3.1 Feedstock
5.3.3.2 Intended application of end product
5.3.3.3 Scope of the selected studies
5.3.3.4 Multifunctionality
5.3.3.5 Life cycle impact assessment methods
5.4 Issues affecting the comparability of life cycle assessment studies
5.4.1 Key performance indicators
5.4.1.1 Key performances indicators and life cycle assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes
5.4.2 Product environmental footprint assessment
5.5 Conclusions
References
Further reading
6 Environmental assessment of biomass to biofuels: biochemical conversion routes
6.1 Introduction
6.2 State-of-the-art of the production technologies
6.2.1 Fermentation
6.2.2 Anaerobic digestion
6.3 Calculation of environmental impacts via life cycle assessment
6.3.1 Definition of the goal and scope
6.3.2 Life cycle inventory analysis
6.3.3 Life cycle impact assessment
6.3.4 Interpretation
6.4 Key performance indicators for life cycle assessment
6.4.1 Fermentation
6.4.2 Anaerobic digestion
6.5 Product environmental footprint
6.6 Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References
7 Environmental assessment of biomass-to-biofuels mechanical conversion routes (pelleting, briquetting)
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Pelleting and briquetting
7.2.1 Pelleting/briquetting feed biomass
7.2.2 Pellets/briquettes classification
7.2.3 Process description
7.3 Life cycle assessment
7.3.1 General life cycle assessment framework
7.3.1.1 Goal and scope definition
7.3.1.2 Life cycle inventory
7.3.1.3 Life cycle impact assessment
7.3.1.4 Interpretation of results
7.3.2 Life cycle assessment components in biomass densification systems
7.3.2.1 System boundaries
7.3.2.2 Functional unit
7.3.2.3 Energy inputs in densification plant subprocesses
7.3.3 Previous work on life cycle assessment of biomass densification systems
7.3.3.1 Life cycle assessment of woody pellets/briquettes
7.3.3.2 Life cycle assessment of nonwoody pellets/briquettes
7.3.3.3 Life cycle assessment of combined densification and torrefaction systems
7.4 Conclusions
References
8 Life cycle assessment of geothermal power technologies
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Technologies for power generation
8.2.1 Dry-steam technology
8.2.2 Single-flash technology
8.2.3 Multistage flash technologies
8.2.4 Binary cycle technology
8.2.5 Enhanced geothermal systems
8.3 Life cycle assessment: methodological aspects
8.3.1 Goal and scope definition
8.3.1.1 Goal
8.3.1.2 Functional unit
8.3.1.3 System boundaries
8.3.2 Life cycle inventory: key aspects and parameters
8.3.2.1 Geothermal resource
8.3.2.2 Power generation technology
8.3.3 Life cycle inventory: core module phases and activities
8.3.3.1 Construction phase
8.3.3.2 Operational phase
8.3.3.3 Maintenance phase
8.3.3.4 End-of-life phase
8.3.4 Life cycle inventory: handling multifunctional processes
8.3.5 Life cycle impact assessment
8.3.6 Life cycle interpretation: reporting LCA results
8.4 Case studies
8.4.1 Hot-spot analysis
8.4.2 Comparative analysis
8.4.2.1 Carbon footprint
8.4.2.2 Multiple environmental categories
Acknowledgments
References
Section C
9 Environmental impact assessment of hydropower stations
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Materials and methods
9.3 Results and discussion
9.3.1 Environmental profiles of the hydropower plants
9.3.2 Metal- and gas-based emission evaluation
9.3.3 Greenhouse-gas emission estimation
9.3.4 Uncertainty analysis
9.4 Conclusion
References
10 A stakeholder impact analysis of the production of the energy vector hydrogen
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Methodological framework and background
10.3 Data—social hotspot database
10.4 Hydrogen production simplified process chain—system boundaries of the hydrogen process chain
10.5 Results—social risks of the stakeholders
10.6 Conclusion
References
11 Environmental impact assessments of compressed air energy storage systems: a review
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Life cycle assessment
11.3 State-of-the-art compressed air energy storage technologies
11.3.1 Conventional compressed air energy storage
11.3.2 Adiabatic compressed air energy storage
11.3.3 Liquid air energy storage
11.4 Life cycle assessment of compressed air energy storage systems
11.4.1 Overview of life cycle assessment studies on compressed air energy storage systems
11.4.2 Discussion on how life cycle assessment is used in compressed air energy storage studies
11.4.2.1 Goal and scope definition
11.4.2.2 Life cycle inventory analysis
11.4.2.3 Life cycle impact assessment
11.4.2.4 Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses
11.5 Comparison of energy storage technologies
11.5.1 Greenhouse gas emissions
11.5.2 Land footprint
11.6 Conclusions and recommendations
Acknowledgments
References
12 Environmental impact assessment of battery storage
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Battery storage markets and production overview
12.3 Methodology
12.4 Results
12.4.1 Impacts of Li-ion batteries
12.4.2 Impacts of NiMH batteries
12.4.3 Impacts of NaCl batteries
12.5 Discussion
12.5.1 Impact outcome comparison
12.6 Limitations
12.7 Conclusion
Nomenclature
References
Section D
13 Environmental assessment of renewable energy and storage technologies: future challenges
Index
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