scholarly journals Acoustic life cycle assessment of offshore renewables—Implications from a wave-energy converter deployment in Falmouth Bay, UK

2017 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
pp. 3923-3923
Author(s):  
Philippe Blondel ◽  
Jodi Walsh ◽  
Jo K. Garrett ◽  
Philipp R. THIES ◽  
Brendan J. GODLEY ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Converter

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of a Buoy-Rope-Drum Wave Energy Converter

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhai ◽  
Linsen Zhu ◽  
Shizhou Lu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Capacity Factor ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Pv Systems

This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) study for a buoy-rope-drum (BRD) wave energy converter (WEC), so as to understand the environmental performance of the BRD WEC by eco-labeling its life cycle stages and processes. The BRD WEC was developed by a research group at Shandong University (Weihai). The WEC consists of three main functional modules including buoy, generator and mooring modules. The designed rated power capacity is 10 kW. The LCA modeling is based on data collected from actual design, prototype manufacturing, installation and onsite sea test. Life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis and life cycle impact analysis (LCIA) were conducted. The analyses show that the most significant environmental impact contributor is identified to be the manufacturing stage of the BRD WEC due to consumption of energy and materials. Potential improvement approaches are proposed in the discussion. The LCI and LCIA assessment results are then benchmarked with results from reported LCA studies of other WECs, tidal energy converters, as well as offshore wind and solar PV systems. This study presents the energy and carbon intensities and paybacks with 387 kJ/kWh, 89 gCO2/kWh, 26 months and 23 months respectively. The results show that the energy and carbon intensities of the BRD WEC are slightly larger than, however comparable, in comparison with the referenced WECs, tidal, offshore wind and solar PV systems. A sensitivity analysis was carried out by varying the capacity factor from 20–50%. The energy and carbon intensities could reach as much as 968 kJ/kWh and 222 gCO2/kWh respectively while the capacity factor decreasing to 20%. Limitations for this study and scope of future work are discussed in the conclusion.

scholarly journals Full life cycle assessment of two surge wave energy converters

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (4) ◽  
pp. 548-561
Author(s):  
Hakan Karan ◽  
R Camilla Thomson ◽  
Gareth P Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Wave Energy Converters ◽  
Full Life Cycle ◽  
Full Life ◽  
Energy Converters

Wave energy has the potential to play an important role in the UK's electricity mix in the coming years and it is important to understand the interactions of wave energy converters with the environment before considering them viable alternatives for other technologies. The aim of this study was to identify the environmental impacts of the deployment of the Oyster wave energy converter to the EMEC test site at Orkney, UK over its lifetime across three general categories: resource use, human health and ecological consequences. A full life cycle assessment was performed on two different models of the Oyster wave energy converter: Oyster 1 and Oyster 800. It was found that the latter is a fitting upgrade for its predecessor as it has lower environmental impacts in all categories; however, the high infrastructural needs of the Oyster technology makes its environmental performance worse than most other wave energy converters. Key sustainability indicators for energy converters include carbon footprint and energy payback period, and these were found to be 79 and 57 gCO2 eq/kWh and 45 and 42 months for the Oyster 1 and Oyster 800, respectively. Although these are significantly higher than most estimates for other types of renewable energy converter, the carbon impacts are still significantly lower than for conventional fossil-fuelled power generation.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of an Oscillating Wave Surge Energy Converter

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Maria Apolonia ◽  
Teresa Simas
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Ecoinvent Database ◽  
Life Cycle Stages ◽  
Background Data ◽  
Final Design

So far, very few studies have focused on the quantification of the environmental impacts of a wave energy converter. The current study presents a preliminary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the MegaRoller wave energy converter, aiming to contribute to decision making regarding the least carbon- and energy-intensive design choices. The LCA encompasses all life cycle stages from “cradle-to-grave” for the wave energy converter, including the panel, foundation, PTO and mooring system, considering its deployment in Peniche, Portugal. Background data was mainly sourced from the manufacturer whereas foreground data was sourced from the Ecoinvent database (v.3.4). The resulting impact assessment of the MegaRoller is aligned with all previous studies in concluding that the main environmental impacts are due to materials use and manufacture, and mainly due to high amounts of material used, particularly steel. The scenario analysis showed that a reduction of the environmental impacts in the final design of the MegaRoller wave energy converter could potentially lie in reducing the quantity of steel by studying alternatives for its replacement. Results are generally comparable with earlier studies for ocean technologies and are very low when compared with other power generating technologies.

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