Green Energy: A Sustainable Future looks at life cycle assessment theory, practice, and methodologies applied in renewable energy power plants. The state-of-the-art life cycle assessment methodologies applied in power generation units are discussed following LCA analysis and key findings from energy production processes.
Providing fundamental knowledge of how to measure sustainability metrics using life cycle assessment in renewable power plants, this title outlines state-of-the-art research about LCA methodologies related to low-carbon energy systems, their outcome, and how to relate the sustainable power concept with a circular economy.
With theoretical concepts of LCA applied in low-carbon power generation systems, outlining environmental impacts based on comprehensive examples and case studies in solar PV, solar thermal, hydropower plants and micro-grids, this book is of great interest to engineers, policy makers, researchers and academics in the area of electric power engineering.
Author(s): M. A. Parvez Mahmud, Shahjadi Hisan Farjana, Candace Lang, Nazmul Huda
Publisher: Academic Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 249
City: London
Cover
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
1 Introduction to green and sustainable energy
1.1 Challenges and objectives
1.2 Main contributions
1.3 Book outline
2 State-of-the-art life cycle assessment methodologies applied in renewable energy systems
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Review selection criteria and method
2.3 Life cycle assessment of renewable power plants
2.3.1 Definition and steps of LCA
2.3.2 System boundary, functional unit, and software of LCA
2.3.3 Life cycle inventory datasets and geographic locations
2.3.4 Life cycle assessment methods
2.4 LCA of renewable energy systems
2.4.1 Impact analysis of solar-PV power plants
2.4.2 Impact analysis of hydropower plants
2.4.3 Impact analysis of wind power plants
2.4.4 Impact analysis of biomass power plants
2.4.5 Impact analysis of other renewable power plants
2.5 Geographic location-wise LCA of renewable energy systems
2.5.1 Impact analysis of plants in Asia
2.5.2 Impact analysis of plants in Europe
2.5.3 Impact analysis of plants in America
2.5.4 Impact analysis of plants in other zones
2.6 Summary and outlook
2.6.1 Choice of LCA methods to be used in LCA of renewable power plants
2.6.2 Major impacting elements of each plant at different geographic locations
2.6.3 Power plant life cycle fossil fuel consumption rates
2.6.4 Comparison of key mid-point impacts among renewable electricity generation systems
2.6.5 Comparison of key damage caused by renewable plants in their life cycle
2.7 Conclusion and future recommendation
3 Environmental impacts of solar-PV and solar-thermal plants
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Materials and methods
3.2.1 Solar-PV and solar-thermal system overview
3.2.2 Life cycle assessment method
3.2.2.1 Goal and scope definition
3.2.2.2 Life cycle inventory
3.2.2.3 Life cycle impact evaluation
3.2.2.4 Life cycle impact interpretation
3.3 Results and discussion
3.3.1 Environmental profiles of solar-PV systems
3.3.2 Environmental profiles of solar-thermal systems
3.3.3 Comparison of impacts between solar-PV systems and solar-thermal systems
3.3.4 GHG emission factor estimation
3.3.5 Fossil fuel-based energy consumption evaluation
3.3.6 Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses
3.4 Limitations of this study
3.5 Conclusions
4 Environmental impacts of hydropower plants
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Hydropower plants of alpine and nonalpine areas in Europe
4.3 Methodology
4.3.1 Goal and scope definition
4.3.2 Life cycle inventory
4.3.3 Life cycle impact estimation
4.3.4 Impact outcome interpretation
4.4 Results
4.4.1 Environmental profiles of hydropower plants
4.4.1.1 Mid-point impact assessment outcome
4.4.1.2 End-point impact assessment outcome
4.4.2 Metal- and gas-based emission evaluation
4.4.3 Greenhouse gas emission estimation
4.4.4 Comparative life cycle inputs and outputs of the plants
4.4.5 Energy consumption comparison
4.5 Discussion
4.5.1 Impact outcome comparison with previous studies
4.5.2 Impact comparison with other power plants
4.5.3 Uncertainty analysis
4.6 Limitations and future improvements
4.7 Conclusion
5 Environmental impact assessment of renewable power plants in the US
5.1 Introduction
5.2 US electricity generation and consumption overview
5.3 Methodology
5.3.1 Goal and scope definition
5.3.2 Life cycle inventory
5.3.3 Life cycle impact assessment
5.3.4 Life cycle impact interpretation
5.4 Results and interpretation
5.4.1 Environmental impact comparison
5.4.2 Fossil fuel-based energy consumption evaluation
5.4.3 GHG emission factor estimation
5.4.4 Comparison of impacts with other power plants
5.5 Uncertainty analysis
5.6 Sensitivity analysis
5.7 Discussion
5.8 Conclusion
6 Comparative environmental impact assessment of solar-PV, wind, biomass, and hydropower plants
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Materials and methods
6.2.1 Goal and scope definition
6.2.2 Life cycle inventory
6.2.3 Life cycle impact assessment
6.2.4 Life cycle impact interpretation
6.3 Results and discussion
6.3.1 Comparison of environmental impacts
6.3.2 Fossil fuel-based energy consumption evaluation
6.3.3 GHG emission factor estimation
6.3.4 Uncertainty analysis
6.3.5 Comparison with other studies
6.4 Conclusion
7 Advanced energy-sharing framework for robust control and optimal economic operation of an islanded microgrid system
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Power-routing framework
7.3 Optimization-based energy-sharing model
7.4 Power-routing control strategy
7.4.1 DC-to-DC converter control
7.4.2 DC-to-AC inverter control
7.5 Simulation and results
7.5.1 Simulation setup
7.5.2 Results of the energy-sharing model
7.5.3 Controller operation outcomes
7.6 Conclusion
8 Environmental impact assessment and techno-economic analysis of a hybrid microgrid system
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Microgrid system overview
8.3 Methods
8.3.1 Optimal economic operation
8.3.1.1 Model parameters
8.3.1.2 Simulation
8.3.1.3 Optimization
8.3.1.4 Sensitivity analysis
8.3.2 Life cycle environmental impact assessment method
8.3.2.1 Goal and scope definition
8.3.2.2 Life cycle inventory
8.3.2.3 Life cycle impact estimation
8.3.2.4 Life cycle impact interpretation
8.4 Results and discussion
8.4.1 Economic operation outcome
8.4.2 Life cycle environmental impact assessment results
8.4.2.1 Environmental impacts of the microgrid
8.4.2.2 Greenhouse gas emissions by the microgrid
8.4.2.3 Metal particles release by the microgrid
8.5 Sensitivity analysis
8.5.1 Effects for various community storage lifetimes and solar scale rates
8.5.2 Impacts for various types of PV modules
8.5.3 Impacts of various types of community storages
8.6 Conclusion
9 Future directions towards green and sustainable energy
9.1 Book summary and concluding remarks
9.1.1 Summary
9.1.2 Conclusions
9.2 Future research directions
A List of acronyms
B List of symbols
References
Index
