scholarly journals Electricity Generation in LCA of Electric Vehicles: A Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 1384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedetta Marmiroli ◽  
Maarten Messagie ◽  
Giovanni Dotelli ◽  
Joeri Van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Carbon Intensity ◽  
Statistical Regression ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Goal Definition ◽  
Electricity Mix ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Made In

: Life Cycle assessments (LCAs) on electric mobility are providing a plethora of diverging results. 44 articles, published from 2008 to 2018 have been investigated in this review, in order to find the extent and the reason behind this deviation. The first hurdle can be found in the goal definition, followed by the modelling choice, as both are generally incomplete and inconsistent. These gaps influence the choices made in the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) stage, particularly in regards to the selection of the electricity mix. A statistical regression is made with results available in the literature. It emerges that, despite the wide-ranging scopes and the numerous variables present in the assessments, the electricity mix’s carbon intensity can explain 70% of the variability of the results. This encourages a shared framework to drive practitioners in the execution of the assessment and policy makers in the interpretation of the results.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessments on Battery Electric Vehicles and Electrolytic Hydrogen: The Need for Calculation Rules and Better Databases on Electricity

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5250
Author(s):  
Roberta Olindo ◽  
Nathalie Schmitt ◽  
Joost Vogtländer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Electric Cars ◽  
Electrolytic Hydrogen ◽  
Electricity Mix

LCAs of electric cars and electrolytic hydrogen production are governed by the consumption of electricity. Therefore, LCA benchmarking is prone to choices on electricity data. There are four issues: (1) leading Life Cycle Impact (LCI) databases suffer from inconvenient uncertainties and inaccuracies, (2) electricity mix in countries is rapidly changing, year after year, (3) the electricity mix is strongly fluctuating on an hourly and daily basis, which requires time-based allocation approaches, and (4) how to deal with nuclear power in benchmarking. This analysis shows that: (a) the differences of the GHG emissions of the country production mix in leading databases are rather high (30%), (b) in LCA, a distinction must be made between bundled and unbundled registered electricity certificates (RECs) and guarantees of origin (GOs); the residual mix should not be applied in LCA because of its huge inaccuracy, (c) time-based allocation rules for renewables are required to cope with periods of overproduction, (d) benchmarking of electricity is highly affected by the choice of midpoints and/or endpoint systems, and (e) there is an urgent need for a new LCI database, based on measured emission data, continuously kept up-to-date, transparent, and open access.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Electric Vehicle Batteries: An Overview of Recent Literature

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Temporelli ◽  
Maria Leonor Carvalho ◽  
Pierpaolo Girardi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Hybrid Vehicles ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Battery Capacity ◽  
Automotive Batteries ◽  
Use Phase

In electric and hybrid vehicles Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), batteries play a central role and are in the spotlight of scientific community and public opinion. Automotive batteries constitute, together with the powertrain, the main differences between electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. For this reason, many decision makers and researchers wondered whether energy and environmental impacts from batteries production, can exceed the benefits generated during the vehicle’s use phase. In this framework, the purpose of the present literature review is to understand how large and variable the main impacts are due to automotive batteries’ life cycle, with particular attention to climate change impacts, and to support researchers with some methodological suggestions in the field of automotive batteries’ LCA. The results show that there is high variability in environmental impact assessment; CO2eq emissions per kWh of battery capacity range from 50 to 313 g CO2eq/kWh. Nevertheless, either using the lower or upper bounds of this range, electric vehicles result less carbon-intensive in their life cycle than corresponding diesel or petrol vehicles.

scholarly journals Design of Eco-Efficient Body Parts for Electric Vehicles Considering Life Cycle Environmental Information

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5838
Author(s):  
Lars Reimer ◽  
Alexander Kaluza ◽  
Felipe Cerdas ◽  
Jens Meschke ◽  
Thomas Vietor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Torsional Stiffness ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Electricity Mix ◽  
Use Phase ◽  
Structural Parts

The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the entire life cycle of vehicles has become part of the strategic objectives in automotive industry. In this regard, the design of future body parts should be carried out based on information of life cycle GHG emissions. The substitution of steel towards lightweight materials is a major trend, with the industry undergoing a fundamental shift towards the introduction of electric vehicles (EV). The present research aims to support the conceptual design of body parts with a combined perspective on mechanical performance and life cycle GHG emissions. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the GHG impact of EV in the use phase depends on vehicle-specific factors that may not be specified at the conceptual design stage of components, such as the market-specific electricity mix used for vehicle charging. A methodology is proposed that combines a simplified numerical design of concept alternatives and an analytic approach estimating life cycle GHG emissions. It is applied to a case study in body part design based on a set of principal geometries and load cases, a range of materials (aluminum, glass and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP, CFRP) as substitution to a steel reference) and different use stage scenarios of EV. A new engineering chart was developed, which helps design engineers to compare life cycle GHG emissions of lightweight material concepts to the reference. For body shells, the replacement of the steel reference with aluminum or GFRP shows reduced lifecycle GHG emissions for most use phase scenarios. This holds as well for structural parts being designed on torsional stiffness. For structural parts designed on tension/compression or bending stiffness CFRP designs show lowest lifecycle GHG emissions. In all cases, a high share of renewable electricity mix and a short lifetime pose the steel reference in favor. It is argued that a further elaboration of the approach could substantially increase transparency between design choices and life cycle GHG emissions.

scholarly journals Eco-Efficiency of a Lithium-Ion Battery for Electric Vehicles: Influence of Manufacturing Country and Commodity Prices on GHG Emissions and Costs

Batteries ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maeva Philippot ◽  
Garbiñe Alvarez ◽  
Elixabete Ayerbe ◽  
Joeri Van Mierlo ◽  
Maarten Messagie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Density ◽  
Lithium Ion Battery ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Carbon Intensity ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Electricity Mix ◽  
The Impact

Lithium-ion battery packs inside electric vehicles represents a high share of the final price. Nevertheless, with technology advances and the growth of the market, the price of the battery is getting more competitive. The greenhouse gas emissions and the battery cost have been studied previously, but coherent boundaries between environmental and economic assessments are needed to assess the eco-efficiency of batteries. In this research, a detailed study is presented, providing an environmental and economic assessment of the manufacturing of one specific lithium-ion battery chemistry. The relevance of parameters is pointed out, including the manufacturing place, the production volume, the commodity prices, and the energy density. The inventory is obtained by dismantling commercial cells. The correlation between the battery cost and the commodity price is much lower than the correlation between the battery cost and the production volume. The developed life cycle assessment concludes that the electricity mix that is used to power the battery factory is a key parameter for the impact of the battery manufacturing on climate change. To improve the battery manufacturing eco-efficiency, a high production capacity and an electricity mix with low carbon intensity are suggested. Optimizing the process by reducing the electricity consumption during the manufacturing is also suggested, and combined with higher pack energy density, the impact on climate change of the pack manufacturing is as low as 39.5 kg CO2 eq/kWh.

Possibilistic Uncertainty Propagation and Compromise Programming in the Life Cycle Analysis of Alternative Motor Vehicle Fuels

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond R. Tan ◽  
◽  
Alvin B. Culaba ◽  
Michael R. I. Purvis ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Uncertainty Propagation ◽  
Possibility Theory ◽  
Data Uncertainty ◽  
Model Data ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Automotive Fuels

Data noise often does not allow definitive results to be drawn from life cycle assessments (LCAs). The use of possibility theory to model data uncertainty led to the development of an LCA model that is able to derive useful conclusions to a specified level of confidence. The specific decision domain in this study involves the identification and selection of the best environmental option from ten different automotive fuels.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS OF WHITE FLAT AND RED OR WHITE PITCHED ROOFS FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN ISRAEL

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Pushkar ◽  
Oleg Verbitsky
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Historically White ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Intense Solar Radiation ◽  
Flat Roof ◽  
Flat Roofs ◽  
Selection Of

Historically, white flat roofs have been used in Israel due to the intense solar radiation and long, hot, rainless summers. However, red pitched roofs have also been frequently used for aesthetic reasons. It has been recently observed that red pitched roofs have been recolored white by homeowners. The goal of this study was to compare the life cycle assessments (LCAs) of white flat roofs versus red or white pitched roofs through their production (P), operational energy (OE), and maintenance to disposal (MtoD) stages. EnergyPlus software was used to evaluate the OE stage. The ReCiPe method was used to evaluate the environmental damages in all the stages. A two-stage nested ANOVA was used to determine the significant differences between the ReCiPe result of a white flat roof and the ReCiPe result of a red/white pitched roof. It was found that (i) selection of the best roof technology (flat or pitched) requires consideration of the LCA, including the P, OE, and MtoD stages; (ii) the white (flat and pitched) roof was the best technology, while the red pitched roof was the worst technology; and (iii) the combination of the ReCiPe endpoint hierarchical six methodological options method with two-stage nested hierarchical mixed ANOVA is the best approach for assessing the differences related to the LCAs of roof technologies.

Characterising municipal solid waste to analyse life-cycle energy demand and emissions

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Nam-Chol O ◽  
Tong-Hyok Choe ◽  
Jong-Hun Kim ◽  
Chol-Mu Choe
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Waste Incineration ◽  
Cumulative Energy ◽  
Cumulative Energy Demand ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Heating Value ◽  
Electricity Mix

A life cycle assessment of waste management in Pyongyang, Korea was undertaken using a characterisation-based method to analyse cumulative energy demand and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. The study showed that characterising waste fractions by composition, proportion, water content and heating value rather than simply mass was more effective for energy-related analysis in life-cycle assessments. The results indicated that the energy demand and emissions indicators could be used as appropriate proxies of the environmental impacts in life-cycle phases, since they were closely related. The results also revealed that waste incineration could result in energy credit to the national electricity mix, while waste landfill needed to be replaced with sanitary landfill and/or switched to incineration with energy recovery to be more sustainable.

scholarly journals Selection of low impact concrete mixtures based on life-cycle assessment mixtures

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1354-1380
Author(s):  
M. G. SILVA ◽  
V. GOMES ◽  
M. R. M. SAADE
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Concrete Mixtures ◽  
Concrete Production ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Over the past decades, extensive research has been carried out to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the cement and concrete production. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) enables the quantification of the environmental loads and offers a useful perspective to scientifically support such studies. In this paper, we demonstrate LCA’s contribution to the selection of low environmental impact concretes, using breakwater coreloc components as a case study. A detailed experimental study was designed for the selection of an alkali activator for blast furnace slag (bfs) to produce concrete suitable for breakwater structures; for the evaluation of concrete properties and for the performance assessment of full scale elements in the field, as well as in the laboratory. Sodium silicate-activated bfs concrete mixtures achieved the best results in terms of performance requirements. Our cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessments showed that, though this chemical activator indeed produces lower global warming potential mixtures than the reference portland CP V-ARI concrete, it induces relevant impacts in several environmental categories. Such information is critical when selecting and optimizing low-impact concrete mixture design, and would not be detected in typical experimental studies that are exclusively guided by compliance with performance requirements.

Impact of the electricity mix and use profile in the life-cycle assessment of electric vehicles

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 271-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Faria ◽  
Pedro Marques ◽  
Pedro Moura ◽  
Fausto Freire ◽  
Joaquim Delgado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Electricity Mix

scholarly journals Life Cycle Analysis in the Framework of Agricultural Strategic Development Planning in the Balkan Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michail Tsangas ◽  
Ifigeneia Gavriel ◽  
Maria Doula ◽  
Flouris Xeni ◽  
Antonis A. Zorpas
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Apple Juice ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Strategic Development ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Made In

Agricultural sector should be considered, as one of the main economic development sectors in the entire world, while at the same time is responsible for important pollution. The life cycle assessment (LCA) procedure was involved in the agricultural strategic development planning for Balkan region, as a useful tool to identify and quantify potential environmental impacts from the production of apple juice, wine and pepper pesto in three selected sites in Greece, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. These three products were chosen, as are considered as the main economic activities at the areas. The LCA approach covered the entire production line of each product. Based on the LCA results, which comprise the size of six impact categories characterization factors, suggestions were made in order to minimize the footprint of the apples orchard, vineyard and pepper cultivation plots as well as of the production processes of apple juice, wine and pepper pesto as final distribution products. The results indicate that changes in the cultivation and the production must be considered in order to optimize the environmental footprint. Moreover, the whole approach could be useful for agricultural stakeholders, policy makers and producers, in order to improve their products ecological performance, reduce food loss and food waste and increase the productivity of the agricultural sector, while at the same time can improve the three pillars of sustainability through strategy development.

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