scholarly journals Optimal sizing and life cycle assessment of residential photovoltaic energy systems with battery storage

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Celik ◽  
T. Muneer ◽  
P. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Battery Storage ◽  
Optimal Sizing ◽  
Photovoltaic Energy

scholarly journals Evaluating the Environmental Performance of Solar Energy Systems Through a Combined Life Cycle Assessment and Cost Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Milousi ◽  
Manolis Souliotis ◽  
George Arampatzis ◽  
Spiros Papaefthimiou
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Environmental Implications

The paper presents a holistic evaluation of the energy and environmental profile of two renewable energy technologies: Photovoltaics (thin-film and crystalline) and solar thermal collectors (flat plate and vacuum tube). The selected renewable systems exhibit size scalability (i.e., photovoltaics can vary from small to large scale applications) and can easily fit to residential applications (i.e., solar thermal systems). Various technical variations were considered for each of the studied technologies. The environmental implications were assessed through detailed life cycle assessment (LCA), implemented from raw material extraction through manufacture, use, and end of life of the selected energy systems. The methodological order followed comprises two steps: i. LCA and uncertainty analysis (conducted via SimaPro), and ii. techno-economic assessment (conducted via RETScreen). All studied technologies exhibit environmental impacts during their production phase and through their operation they manage to mitigate significant amounts of emitted greenhouse gases due to the avoided use of fossil fuels. The life cycle carbon footprint was calculated for the studied solar systems and was compared to other energy production technologies (either renewables or fossil-fuel based) and the results fall within the range defined by the global literature. The study showed that the implementation of photovoltaics and solar thermal projects in areas with high average insolation (i.e., Crete, Southern Greece) can be financially viable even in the case of low feed-in-tariffs. The results of the combined evaluation provide insight on choosing the most appropriate technologies from multiple perspectives, including financial and environmental.

scholarly journals Adjustment of the Life Cycle Inventory in Life Cycle Assessment for the Flexible Integration into Energy Systems Analysis

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4437
Author(s):  
Thomas Betten ◽  
Shivenes Shammugam ◽  
Roberta Graf
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Double Counting ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Energy Systems Analysis ◽  
The Difference

With an increasing share of renewable energy technologies in our energy systems, the integration of not only direct emission (from the use phase), but also the total life cycle emissions (including emissions during resource extraction, production, etc.) becomes more important in order to draw meaningful conclusions from Energy Systems Analysis (ESA). While the benefit of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into ESA is acknowledged, methodologically sound integration lacks resonance in practice, partly because the dimension of the implications is not yet fully understood. This study proposes an easy-to-implement procedure for the integration of LCA results in ESA based on existing theoretical approaches. The need for a methodologically sound integration, including the avoidance of double counting of emissions, is demonstrated on the use case of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell photovoltaic technology. The difference in Global Warming Potential of 19% between direct and LCA based emissions shows the significance for the integration of the total emissions into energy systems analysis and the potential double counting of 75% of the life cycle emissions for the use case supports the need for avoidance of double counting.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment on Wave and Tidal Energy Systems: A Review of Current Methodological Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xizhuo Zhang ◽  
Longfei Zhang ◽  
Yujun Yuan ◽  
Qiang Zhai
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Tidal Energy ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Iso 14040 ◽  
Methodological Practice

Recent decades have witnessed wave and tidal energy technology receiving considerable attention because of their low carbon emissions during electricity production. However, indirect emissions from their entire life cycle should not be ignored. Therefore, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely applied as a useful approach to systematically evaluate the environmental performance of wave and tidal energy technologies. This study reviews recent LCA studies on wave and tidal energy systems for stakeholders to understand current status of methodological practice and associated inherent limitations and reveal future research needs for application of LCA on wave and tidal technologies. The conformance of the selected LCAs to ISO 14040 (2006) and 14044 (2006) are critically analyzed in strict accordance with the ISO stepwise methodologies, namely, goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis, as well as life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Our systematically screening of these studies indicates that few of the selected studies are of strict conformance with ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, which makes the results unreliable and thus further reduces the confidence of interested stakeholders. Further, our review indicates that current LCA practice on wave and tidal energies is lacking consideration of temporal variations, which should be addressed in future research, as it causes inaccuracy and uncertainties.

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