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Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of photovoltaic panels: A review
... Numerous studies on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of PV systems have been carried out in the literature [7][8][9][10]. These studies have mainly focused on small (1-100 kWp) and medium-sized (100 kWp-1 MWp) stand-alone PV installations. ...
... Four indicators were chosen: climate change, freshwater ecotoxicity, and mineral and fossil resource scarcity. These indicators are widely used in the literature to assess the environmental impacts of PV systems [9,13,29]. ...
... Thus, for PV installations with the same power but different technologies, the EPBT in ascending order is CdTe thin-film technology, poly c-Si, and mono c-Si. This is due to the energy required to manufacture them [9]. Ito et al. [15] [31]. ...
This work aims to determine the Energy Payback Time (EPBT) of a 33.7 MWp grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Zagtouli (Burkina Faso) and assess its environmental impacts using the life cycle assessment tool according to ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. A “cradle to grave” approach was used, considering 1 kWh of electricity produced and injected into the national grid over 25 years as a functional unit. In addition to the baseline scenario, the other simulated scenarios combining three variables, module technology (mono c-Si, poly c-Si, and CdTe), type of mounting structure (aluminum and steel), and end-of-life treatments (landfill and recycling) were considered. SimaPro 9.4 software and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) evaluation method were used for the calculations considering four environmental indicators. A sensitivity analysis of the change in the electricity mix was also performed. Results showed that the EPBT of the scenarios varies between 1.47 and 1.95 years, with the shortest and longest corresponding to scenarios 4 (CdTe modules, steel mounting structure, and recycling as end-of-life treatment) and scenario 3 (mono c-Si modules, aluminum mounting structure, and recycling as end-of-life treatment), respectively. All the EPBT scenarios studied can be considered acceptable given the long lifetime of PV systems (25 years). The following environmental impact results were obtained: climate change 37–48 CO 2 -eq kWh ⁻¹ , freshwater ecotoxicity 4–11 g 1,4-DCB kWh ⁻¹ , mineral resource scarcity 0.4–0.7 g Cu-eq kWh ⁻¹ and 11–13 g oil-eq kWh ⁻¹ for fossil resource scarcity. Scenario 3 (mono c-Si modules, aluminum mounting structure, and recycling as end-of-life treatment) dominates all environmental indicators studied except freshwater ecotoxicity, which is dominated by scenario 4 (CdTe modules, steel mounting structure, and recycling as end-of-life treatment). The sensitivity analysis showed that the change in the electricity mix could reduce around 30% the EPBT, climate change, and fossil resource scarcity. Considering the environmental indicators studied, using CdTe modules manufactured in a country with a less carbon-intensive electricity mix, using galvanized steel as the mounting structure, and completely recycling components at the end of their lifetime is the most environmentally friendly scenario. However, particular attention needs to be paid to the land occupation that this plant could generate.
... For the most part, LCA studies of renewable energy in Africa focus on quantifying environmental impacts, hotspots, and contribution analyses, with a few exceptions investigating life cycle inventories, and economic and social aspects. So far, there are only two peer-reviewed literature reviews of LCA of renewable energy in Africa ( Bacenetti et al. 2016 ;Gerbinet et al. 2014 ), but they are not exclusive to the continent and only focus on one type of energy source. In particular, Bacenetti et al. (2016) and Gerbinet et al. (2014) review publications on anaerobic digestion and solar PV respectively, in various regions of Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. ...
... So far, there are only two peer-reviewed literature reviews of LCA of renewable energy in Africa ( Bacenetti et al. 2016 ;Gerbinet et al. 2014 ), but they are not exclusive to the continent and only focus on one type of energy source. In particular, Bacenetti et al. (2016) and Gerbinet et al. (2014) review publications on anaerobic digestion and solar PV respectively, in various regions of Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. A review that exclusively draws from existing studies of life cycle assessments of renewable sources in Africa is missing. ...
... LCAs of solar PV in the reviewed studies are mostly for groundmounted systems. Comparatively, similar assessments conducted for high-income countries explore a broader range of installations i.e. roof-mounted, façade integrated, building integrated, and ground-mounted ( Gerbinet et al., 2014 ). The environmental impacts of ground and roof installations are mainly associated with the length of the transmission and distribution infrastructure (i.e. ...
Renewable energy capacity in Africa is expected to reach 169.4 GW by 2040 from 48.5 GW in 2019. The growth of the sector necessitates a re-evaluation of the environmental impacts of renewable energy on the continent to inform mitigation decisions. This study presents the first literature review of the life cycle assessments of renewable energy in Africa and gives an in-depth analysis of environmental issues that are specific to Africa's renewable energy sector. It performs a systematic assessment of literature on the topic, examines the state-of-the-art, and critically evaluates environmental impacts on the continent, implications of methodological choices, gaps, challenges, and compares the findings with other regions. Climate change has extensively been researched in the studies due to high policy priorities on decarbonisation. Other relevant impact categories such as resource depletion in non-closed loop systems, ecotoxicity from recycling emissions, or ecosystem degradation from landfill leachate are not fully explored despite the end-of-life being potentially a major burden for the continent. Choice of functional units and multifunctional processes give wide variations in the magnitude of environmental impacts for similar technologies and, therefore, have implications for decision-making. For example, similar biodiesel jatropha systems with energy- and mass-based functional units give a difference of about 16% in climate change potential. To ensure that life cycle assessment results apply to mitigation decisions in Africa, studies should consider methodological issues such as lack of transparency in inventories, incomplete coverage of life cycle stages and impact categories, and missing databases adapted for the African context.
... Nevertheless, their studies were restricted merely to OPVs, without other technologies, and needed development on environmental viability [51]. In the same way, the study of [52] has analyzed mostly CO2 discharges and EPBT of PV technology. On the other hand, the analysis needed to evaluate the module's technical characteristics and the balance of system (BOS) devices was merely restricted to the PV module, without other system devices, and was not able to study the evolving PV technologies; furthermore, it was merely restricted to CO2 discharges, disregarding other environmental factors [52]. ...
... In the same way, the study of [52] has analyzed mostly CO2 discharges and EPBT of PV technology. On the other hand, the analysis needed to evaluate the module's technical characteristics and the balance of system (BOS) devices was merely restricted to the PV module, without other system devices, and was not able to study the evolving PV technologies; furthermore, it was merely restricted to CO2 discharges, disregarding other environmental factors [52]. Currently, the analysis of [53] regarding some of the studies on solar energy technologies reveals that solar pond CSP and CdTe PVs have the least possible GHGs discharges throughout their lifespan. ...
Presently, the world is undergoing exciting haste to install photovoltaic (PV) systems in industry, residential/commercial buildings, transportation, deserts, street lights, and many other applications. Solar photovoltaic energy systems are clean and reliable energy sources that are unlimited , unlike their fossil fuel counterparts. The energy market is rapidly growing globally with newly and cumulative installed capacities of about 37.6 GW and 139.6 GW, accounting for 53% and 55%, respectively, in 2017, making it one of the fastest-growing industries. The cumulative photo-voltaic installations are projected to have reached 600 GW worldwide and are projected to reach 4500 GW by 2050 because of the strategies and policies of many countries. In 2021, more than three-quarters of the developed countries are now home to one solar installation. This article evaluates a critical and extensive review of the contributions of solar photovoltaic systems to national development. The approach follows all steps, starting with capturing photovoltaics on the Earth's surface, then price reduction, load management, and socioeconomic impact of solar photovoltaic systems. From the study, it is found that the policies and strategies adopted by the leading countries, such as tax credits, capital subsidies, net-metering, VAT reduction, feed-in tariffs (FiTs), and renewable portfolio standards (RPS), have significantly helped in more installations. Additionally, the significant drop in photovoltaic module prices from 4731 $/W in 2010 to 883 $/W in 2020 has boosted the move for more installations. Based on the findings, approximately 10 million permanent employ-ments would be put in place by advancing solar power across the globe annually.
... According to reference [65], all parts of the BOS components' analyzed system should be characterized. The End-Of-Life (EoL) should be integrated into the study and thoroughly specified, given their significant impact on the results. ...
... Using varied evaluation approaches, a lack of or missing data at some stages of LCAs, and selecting different functional units result in a wide range of outcomes, complicating the comparison between studies [58,65]. The low number of panels that reached the decommissioning phase is the key reason for the end-of-life stage [90]. ...
This study compares Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions as CO2 equivalent per one kilowatt-hour of two types of renewable power generation technologies (solar and wind) compared to other traditional power generation technologies through life cycle assessment methods. Related to Global Warming Potential (GWP), the produced quantities of GHGs of each generation method vary through the lifecycle. For wind and solar power, the release of GHGs reached between 70 and 98% during manufacturing (including raw materials) and decommissioning. The recycling stage may play a crucial role in decreasing the impact of GHGs by up to 40%. -Adopting emissions calculated by the Life Cycle Approach (LCA) with electrical generation from solar and wind ways allows a fair comparison per (CO2) eq/ KWh basis and factors affecting each LCA stage. For the two studied systems, wind power emits the least amount of (CO2) eq/ KWh, with average values of 13.91 and 12.7 g CO2eq/kWh for offshore and onshore farms, respectively. While photovoltaic has the highest contribution to GHGs emissions, with a mean value of 23.39 g for CdTe, it is followed by 33.14, 39.93, 43.84,49.33, 50.76 for a-Si, m-Si, CIGs, CIS and sc-Si g (CO2) eq/ KWh, respectively. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) occupied the medium contribution of 35.6 g for the tower and 30.94 g (CO2) eq/ KWh for the trough. Compared to fossil fuel-fired systems, the average (CO2) eq/ KWh is 936 g for coal-fired, 730 g for oil, and 502 for gas-fired power systems. Replacing one kilowatt-hour of coal or oil-generated electricity with one kilowatt-hour of wind power can save up to 923 or 716 g (CO2) eq/ kWh. © 2022. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research.All Rights Reserved
... Fuel cell operation, PV modules and conventional natural gas heaters (in cases when cogeneration with CHP was not accounted for) were the main contributors of the operational equivalent emission fraction. For PV modules, the mean value between [9], and [20] for polycristaline Si panels was used. ...
... gCO 2 eq/kWh and 268.39 gCO 2 eq/kWh, respectively for the residential and industrial cases. Furthermore, even though conventional PV systems usually present equivalent emissions of 40 gCO 2 eq/kWh to 80 gCO 2 eq/kWh [9,20], if a natural gas heater is also used to supply the corresponding thermal demand for the residential consumer, total emission could rise up to 233.25 gCO 2 eq/kWh for such systems. Therefore, the proposed on-grid hybrid system proved to be an interesting alternative solution to other green energy systems by presenting relatively low pollutant emission to the environment when cogeneration is considered. ...
As global natural resources depletion and concern on emission of greenhouse gases intensify, the interest for low emission technologies and the use of renewable energy increased in the world. In this context, this paper aims to present an hybrid energy system for on-grid micro residential and industrial applications. The system is composed of a micro combined heat and power (CHP) unit, including a natural gas (NG) reformer coupled with proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), solar photovoltaic modules (PV) and a bank of batteries (B), connected to the grid through a bidirectional inverter. Different system configurations (PEMFC + PV + B, PEMFC + B, PEMFC + PV), with or without cogeneration of the heat from the CHP system, were investigated to calculate the required NG and electricity flows and assess the economic cost during 10 years of operation in an 2020–2040 horizon. The impact of fuel cell sizing and two electricity tariffs was also assessed for both applications. Afterwards, the cash flow in terms of net present value of a 20 years operation period was simulated within the Brazilian context, yielding estimated paybacks between 7 and 19 years for the simulated cases. Finally, an environmental impact analysis was carried out to investigate the total GHG emissions for some cases of interest in this work. The proposed system could reduce total emissions up to 31% when compared to the complete power and thermal supply by the Brazilian Electricity grid and natural gas heater The results showed that the proposed system were economically viable, relatively low-polluting and more efficient than traditional PV systems.
... Various works present their own methodologies to estimate the CO 2 footprint [35,36,37,38]. In general, CO 2 emissions of diesel are calculated based on the fuel consumed, CO 2 emissions of PV, micro hydro, and battery storage are calculated based on the energy consumed. ...
... To avoid reliability issues, a minimum battery capacity of 500 kWh is assumed for the optimal search space. For the CO 2 emissions estimation, an emission factor α P V of 63 g/kWh was assumed based on [35]. This value was considered since it represents a high emission factor for ground-mounted PVs compared to diesel emissions. ...
Several remote communities have limited electricity access and are mainly dependent on environmentally damaging fossil fuels. The installation of microgrid networks and green energy initiatives are currently addressing this issue. Thus, this paper proposes the techno-economic assessment of a microgrid that comprises Photovoltaic (PV) arrays, a micro hydro turbine, and diesel generation. Two scenarios are evaluated considering the inclusion or not of diesel generation. This model is performed in HOMER. The results demonstrate that the best option in economics is to invest in a PV/Hydro/Diesel microgrid, resulting in an Net Present Cost (NPC) of 2.33M$, and a Cost of Energy (COE) of 0.194$/kWh. Furthermore, to address diesel price uncertainties, a sensitivity analysis was carried out based on three different projected diesel prices.
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... In Phase 3, the impact and damage categories of LSS are assessed while the ANN forecasting model is trained and tested to reduce uncertainties in electricity generation. Power intermittency is highly affected by meteorological fluctuations in reflecting the LSS's overall environmental impact (Gerbinet et al., 2014). Hence, electricity generation is the only output in LCA forecasted via the ANN model. ...
... In solar power system, the majority of CO2 emissions are associated with electricity and fuel consumption during manufacturing (Gerbinet et al., 2014). ...
Renewable power generation is known as a low emission energy source. However, it is extremely important to analyze the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of renewable energy power stations along the entire life-cycle to broaden the concept of sustainability to an environmental and economic point of view. The main objective of this study was assessing and comparing the GHG emissions within the life-cycle of solar and gas power generation in Iran. A further objective was to evaluate the external costs associated with carbon emissions. The life-cycle inventory was first analyzed. The output emissions inventoried in the study were carbon dioxide (CO2). Then the CO2 emission and social cost of carbon during every process in solar and gas technologies were calculated by energy and environment software. Gas power plants are found to have a life-cycle CO2 emission of 658 g-CO2/kWh, which is comparatively higher than solar power life cycles (5.9 g-CO2/kWh). Life-cycle CO2 emissions from solar and gas power generation systems, imposes 70.8 and 2883.6 million US dollars/year to compensate its social effects. Results of the present study showed that the solar power generation is the environmentally-friendly form of producing electricity when compared with gas power technology in terms of life-cycle CO2 emissions. This makes solar power as promising solution to the Iran's cleaner power transition.
... HUBER et al. in Germany analyzed and evaluated the environmental emissions and resource use of silicon solar cells during their life cycle [23],KATO et al. [24] and ITO et al. [25,26] from the Comprehensive Research Institute of Industrial Technology in Japan conducted a case study on large-scale photovoltaic power stations in practical applications,ALSEMA in the Netherlands has carried out a life cycle assessment of photovoltaic products [27], A.Stoppato [28] and FTHENANIS [29] evaluated the life cycle of solar cells. The above literature indicates that life cycle assessment, as an environmental management tool, has been widely used in the industrial field and has made some achievements [16,30], so it is also adopted in this paper to evaluate the life cycle in the production process of high-purity crystalline silicon. ...
High purity polysilicon is the core raw material of solar cell, which is considered as environmental protection product. Due to the high energy consumption and environmental pollution in the course of its life cycle, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used to quantitatively calculate its environmental impact and summarize its emission reduction. Firstly, the LCA models of 1t industrial silicon and 1t high-purity polysilicon produced by modified Siemens process are established, and then the life cycle data of resource input, energy consumption, emission and comprehensive impact on the environment obtained from actual industrial production are analyzed. The main environmental impacts in its life cycle are divided into 1 ~ 10 impact categories to find the key factors that determine the environmental load. Results The LCA model was established and the environmental effects of the newly designed and modified Siemens process route on high purity polysilicon were compared. The environmental impacts of industrial silicon production and modified Siemens process for high-purity polysilicon production are 4.53 and 4.99, respectively. According to the quantitative results, the improvement focuses on reducing the power consumption of high-purity polysilicon in the production stage and optimizing the recycling of waste in the production process.
... They must be prepared to nerve up to weather cycles and noteworthy climate. In any case, solar panels aren't great and that they can unavoidably age [18]. ...
— Utilization of solar photovoltaic is increasing dayby day to reduce dependence on the power grid. Decompositionof 1st and 3rd generation silicon solar cells not only depends uponthe plastic and other materials but also the hazardous elementmainly used as their character on the bases of which they arecategorized as 1st , 2nd and 3rd contemporaries solar cells. Theseingredient are mostly carcinogenic and some of them having lifespan of more than 100 years. After abjection of solar cells, theyremain in the soil for many years and cause serious problem toland environment and also responsible for causing carcinogenicdisease in human and other living beings. This paper exploresdecomposition rates of the chemical element mainly used in 1stand 3rd generation solar cells throughout the past years, possibleenvironmental and health effects by the hazardous elements usedin them typically silicon (atomic number 14) and focusing onpossible suggested solutions or alternatives.
... An important indicator of the environmental performance of PV is energy payback time (EPBT) [21] and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [22]. In general, EPBT depends on location and the related irradiation, efficiency, and cumulative energy demand (CED) of PV systems [23]. ...
This paper presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis of a new, high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) technology developed as part of the HIPERION project of hybrid photovoltaics for efficiency record using an integrated optical technology. In the LCA calculations, the production stage of a full module was adopted as a functional unit. SimaPro version 9.00.49, the recent Ecoinvent database (3.8), and the IPCC 2021 GWP 100a environmental model were applied to perform the calculations. The environmental impact of the HCPV panel was determined for constructional data and for recycling of the main elements of the module. The results of the calculations show that recycling of PMMA, rubber, and electronic elements reduced the total carbon footprint by 17%, from 240 to 201 kg CO2-eq. The biggest environmental load was generated by the PV cells: 99.9 kg CO2eq., which corresponds to 49.8% (41.7% without recycling) of the total environmental load due to the large number of solar cells used in the construction. The emission of CO2 over a 25-year lifespan was determined from 17.1 to 23.4 g CO2-eq/kWh (20.4 to 27.9 without recycling), depending on the location. The energy payback time (EPBT) for the analyzed module is 0.87 and 1.19 years, depending on the location and the related insolation factors (Madrid: 470 kWh/m2, Lyon: 344 kWh/m2). The results of the calculations proved that the application of recycling and recovery methods for solar cells can improve the sustainability of the photovoltaic industry.
... In particular, the LCA approach integrates knowledge of the environmental impacts of generating electricity using PV systems, and 1 kWh net electricity generation is a commonly used functional unit in PV LCA studies [18,19]. LCA studies indicate that the energy footprints of PV modules vary by technology [20,21] but are dominated by the processes associated with the extraction and purification of materials [22][23][24]. As such, PV systems are more water-efficient than other forms of power production, including coal, nuclear, biomass, etc. [25]. ...
Citation: Belongeay, M.; Shirkey, G.; Lunardi, M.M.; Rodriguez-Garcia, G.; Sinha, P.; Corkish, R.; Stewart, R.A.; Anctil, A.; Chen, J.; Celik, I. Photovoltaic Systems through the Lens of Material-Energy-Water Nexus. Energies 2023, 16, 3174. Abstract: Solar photovoltaics (PV) has emerged as one of the world's most promising power-generation technologies, and it is essential to assess its applications from the perspective of a material-energy-water (MEW) nexus. We performed a life cycle assessment of the cradle-to-grave MEW for single-crystalline silicon (s-Si) and CdTe PV technologies by assuming both PV systems are recycled at end of life. We found that the MEW network was dominated by energy flows (>95%), while only minor impacts of materials and water flows were observed. Also, these MEW flows have pyramid-like distributions between the three tiers (i.e., primary, secondary/sub-secondary, and tertiary levels), with greater flows at the primary and lower flows at the tertiary levels. A more detailed analysis of materials' circularity showed that glass layers are the most impactful component of recycling due to their considerable weight in both technologies. Our analysis also emphasized the positive impacts that increased power-conversion efficiency and the use of recycled feedstock have on the PV industry's circularity rates. We found that a 25% increase in power-conversion efficiency and the use of fully recycled materials in PV panel feedstocks resulted in 91% and 86% material circularity for CdTe and s-Si PV systems, respectively.
... Other impactful LCA research for renewable energy sources include: Malkki et al. [49], who reviewed the use of LCA in renewable energy and in energy education using a literature review, Gerbinet et al. [50], who presented an accurate overview of the LCA previously performed on PVs, Asdrubali et al. [51], who reviewed roughly 50 papers on solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power, Varun et al. [52], who reviewed existing energy and CO 2 life cycle analyses of renewable sources, Ling-Chin et al. [53], who proposed a LCA framework for marine PV systems, Bhandari et al. [54], who carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of embedded energy, energy payback times, and energy returns on energy invested metrics, Laleman et al. [55], who presented a comprehensive environmental evaluation of residential PV systems for regions with low solar irradiation, and Wong et al. [56], who attempted to summarise the latest PV system developments with regards to their environmental performance and sustainability. ...
... Additionally, Table 8 shows that the research areas which can render this EC process more energy sustainable are: PV accounts for 82% of the invested energy, followed by BOP which accounts for 16%, while the PEM stack unexpectedly weighs only 1%. The EROI evaluation of electricity production by PV, which is extensively present in the literature [74], with the present method is very simple. Considering I within the technology, i.e., EROI of the PV electricity fed into the grid, the numerator EC net = 0.98x3.6 ...
Nowadays there is a considerable interest in studying the direct and indirect energies involved in products and services. This is particularly critical when novel energy resources are exploited by complex technological chains and to determine if they can indeed guarantee an useful energy societal supply. Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted procedure for doing this. The present paper aims to suggest a new procedure to evaluate the EROI of technologies producing energy carriers based on the stocks/flows-funds/services production model of N. Georgescu-Roegen. The suggested method can uniquely identify the energy flows involved in the technology consistent with biophysical and anthropological boundaries. This analytical formulation can be used either for single technologies or combination of them in series or parallel using different energy resources. Specific recommendations in the use of the Cumulative Energy Demand and Global Energy Requirements in the Net Energy Analysis, as well as in the evaluation of both for an electrical system are reported. The approach is here applied to the analysis of electrolytic H2 production using electricity produced by a photovoltaic panel ("green hydrogen"). The resulting EROI = 0.97 means that the technology is not sustainable, requiring 3% energy from the anthropological sphere to support it. The paper is organized as follows: providing a narrative model for EROI evaluation consistent with anthropological and biophysical spheres; covering the definition of stocks/flows-funds/services model for EROI evaluation; analysing and suggesting uses of the model for energy technologies scoring and selection based on sustainability and presenting a numerical case study.
... As already indicated, a potential solution may be offered by mobile units that start the recycling process at the location of the solar farm. It should also be noted that in recent decades the economic sustainability of photovoltaics has been the subject of numerous studies, but in the context of the cost of raw materials necessary for the production of photovoltaic panels [51][52][53]. On the other hand, some studies have shown that the cost of generating electricity from photovoltaic panels, taking into account the costs of recovering materials from used modules, is much lower (even by up to two-thirds while using certain recovery methods [54]) compared to a conventional fossil fuel power plant [55]. ...
There has been a significant increase in the use of photovoltaics over the last two decades and according to many forecasts, the next two decades are expected to be characterised by even more dynamic growth. However, the long-term durability of PV panels will primarily depend on the effectiveness of legislation and processes that will be adopted to recycle an unprecedented amount of end-of-life panels to be built in the coming decades and the ones that desperately need to be recycled (predicted amount of photovoltaic waste by 2050: 78 million tonnes). As the main part of this research, a systematic review of the literature was carried out. The aim of this was to create a conceptual framework for the analysis of the fraction separation potential in the recycling process of PV panels at the installation site from the economic and environmental safety perspective, because it is agreed that the main cost that has the greatest environmental impact in the process of recycling materials from PV panels is the transport. According to this review, there is a research gap in terms of research on the recycling potential of photovoltaic panels at the site; however, those studies that touch this area clearly indicate the potential benefits, both economic and environmental.
... Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely used to determine the life cycle impact of a product (Di et al., 2007;Gerbinet et al., 2014). Our paper focuses on the life cycle impact assessment of electricity. ...
By virtue of the hedging and price discovery function, carbon futures trading may help carbon market function more effectively. Is it necessary to establish carbon futures trading in China? The authorities have endorsed the idea since 2015, however, the scheme has not yet started; no antecedent pre-assessment quantitative research has been carried out. Therefore this study that attempts to fill this gap in the literature, could be of real significance. Through deriving a potential decarbonization roadmap, this study tries to give some clues pertaining to the converted mitigation strategy imposed by carbon futures trading in China. A model chain has been proposed, which is composed of the Optimal Production Decision-making Model for Producers, Life Cycle Impact Assessment, Monetization, and Genetic Algorithm based optimization, to quantify the environmental benefits (including improvements to human health, ecosystem damage and increased temperature induced GDP losses) of the assumed mitigation trajectories. By setting the maximization of environmental benefits as the objective, the optimal decarbonization roadmap with carbon futures trading is derived. Results show that the optimal emission reductions for power enterprises (covered by the carbon market) for the next 10 years (2021–2030) are around 3.27 billion tonnes CO2e. If 36% of this amount is assigned to previously discussed mitigation trajectories, it is found that 106.98 GW ultra-super critical units, 160.85 GW mono-Si PV facilities and 167.26 GW doubly-fed induction generator wind capacity should be installed. Overall environmental benefits are 4.6 trillion CNY2018, over 5% of China’s 2018 GDP. Results demonstrate the optimal emission reductions and potential decarbonization roadmap for China’s power enterprises (those covered by the carbon market) under the context of carbon futures trading, which can be an important reference for the authorities and therefore encourage the establishment of the scheme.
... They also realized that most studies are conducted on energy indices like the energy payback time (EPBT) index and climate changes like the CO 2 emission index. 19 Peng et al. reexamined the EPBT performance of the energy and the environmental effects of the solar PV systems through a complete revision in the amount of greenhouse emission released from PV panels and the years required for these panels to provide a specified amount of energy. They implemented LCA for five conventional systems, including single crystal (mono-Si), polycrystalline (multi-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride thin film, and Copper-Indium-Gallium-selenium (CIS or CIGSSe) thin film. ...
With the development of different generations of solar cell (photovoltaic) technologies, extensive research has been conducted to evaluate their performances, applications, and cost benefits. Despite these technologies being known as green technologies compared with fossil fuels, however, their environmental problems and damages have not been assessed and compared systematically in their whole life cycle. In this study, the environmental effects of different solar cell generations are assessed and compared using the life cycle assessment approach. Environmentally speaking, the results obtained from the software indicate that the first (polycrystalline) and third (transparent Perovskite) generation panels cause the greatest (1.43 × E⁻⁶ Daly) and least (4.56 × E⁻⁷ Daly) damage to human health, respectively. In addition, these two generations of photovoltaic panels have the most significant and least negative influence on the ecosystem with 2.18 × E⁻⁸ and 7.05 × E⁻¹⁰ Species.Yr, respectively. Regarding the environmental effect of damage to the resources, the third and second (cadmium telluride) panels have the least damage with 0.027 USD2013 and 0.0184 USD2013, respectively. The most negative midpoint effect is associated with the marine ecotoxicity of 0.101 kg 1.4-DCB by the second generation panels. Concerning global warming as the most critical consequence, all three panels also severely impact increasing the global warming index by 399, 164, and 134 (gCO2 eq), respectively. Based on perovskite technologies that are being rapidly evolved with extensive applications, replacing this technology with the current generations is expected due to its less environmental impacts. © 2022 The Authors. Energy Science & Engineering published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
... The cut off-criteria used in this study coincide with the cut-off criteria in the used studies for the sub-systems [31,35,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53]; details are in Supplementary Materials Section S2. Figure 1 shows that some products need to be allocated. The plant produces a mix of hydrocarbons, namely PtL-kerosene, (e-)gasoline, and (e-)diesel. ...
Decarbonization of the aviation sector is crucial to reaching the global climate targets. We quantified the environmental impacts of Power-to-Liquid kerosene produced via Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis from electricity and carbon dioxide from air as one broadly discussed alternative liquid jet fuel. We applied a life-cycle assessment considering a well-to-wake boundary for five impact categories in-cluding climate change and two inventory indicators. Three different electricity production mixes and four different kerosene production pathways in Germany were analyzed, including two Direct Air Capture technologies, and compared to fossil jet fuel. The environmental impacts of Pow-er-to-Liquid kerosene varied significantly across the production pathways. E.g., when electricity from wind power was used, the reduction in CO2-eq. compared to fossil jet fuel varied between 27.6–46.2% (with non-CO2 effects) and between 52.6–88.9% (without non-CO2 effects). The re-duction potential regarding CO2-eq. of the layout using low-temperature electrolysis and high-temperature Direct Air Capture was lower compared to the high-temperature electrolysis and low-temperature Direct Air Capture. Overall, the layout causing the lowest environmental impacts uses high-temperature electrolysis, low-temperature Direct Air Capture and electricity from wind power. This paper showed that PtL-kerosene produced with renewable energy could play an im-portant role in decarbonizing the aviation sector.
... To understand the impact of encapsulation, this chapter describes the current stateof-the-art of crystalline photovoltaic module production, recycling and reuse. Production and recycling are the processes of the life cycle that are decisive for the environmental impact [16]. The reuse process is one way to extend the lifetime of the modules and therefore has a positive effect on the environmental impact [17]. ...
In times of climate change and increasing resource scarcity, the importance of sustainable renewable energy technologies is increasing. However, the photovoltaic (PV) industry is characterised by linear economy structures, energy-intensive production, downcycling and little sustainability. One starting point for sustainable technologies is offered by the circular economy with its circular design principles. One problematic aspect of the design of crystalline PV modules is the encapsulation. In particular, the encapsulation avoids high-value recycling or the remanufacturing of modules, which could close loops and extend the lifetime of the products. For this reason, this paper provides an overview of the current state of encapsulation methods regarding production, materials and recycling. In addition, the current state of sustainability research in the photovoltaic sector is presented using the VOSviewer tool. Furthermore, alternative encapsulation technologies are discussed and compared in terms of performance and sustainability. The current encapsulation method using ethylene vinyl acetate as the encapsulation material offers major disadvantages in terms of performance and recyclability. Alternatives are the thermoplastic material polyolefin and the alternative structure of the NICE technology. Overall, however, research should focus more on sustainability and recyclability. Alternative module structures will be a decisive factor in this context.
... It does not produce CO 2 emissions at the point of electricity production [15][16][17], since there is a carbon cost associated with the other stages of its life cycle. Currently, many countries have been forced to switch to SE or other alternative sources of energy [18], even though their environmental impacts are still not fully determined [19]. ...
Synanthropic vegetation occurs at sites of photovoltaic power plants, where vegetation management is typically ignored, and can have adverse effects on photovoltaic panels as they increase fire hazards. Most scientific papers related to the installation and operation of solar power plants do not address the impact of photovoltaic power plants on vegetation and the associated fire hazards; grasslands, where photovoltaic power plants are usually located, have abundant grass that is highly flammable. This study was conducted in the South Moravian region of the Czech Republic to monitor and quantify the occurrence of plant species at sites where two different types of photovoltaic panels were installed. It was hypothesized that different types of photovoltaic panels are associated with different types of vegetation. Vegetation was assessed using phytocoenological relevés. The vegetation was controlled by grazing sheep and mowing around photovoltaic panels. The results of this study indicated that stationary photovoltaic panels create favourable conditions for species that increase fire hazards. Fire hazards can be reduced using grazing or mowing and removal of biomass. Using rotating photovoltaic panels, combined with sheep grazing, is more effective for promoting vegetation that reduces the chances of fire. This study highlights that photovoltaic power plants represent a renewable and sustainable energy source; however, different types of photovoltaic panels are associated with different vegetation types. To eliminate fire hazards, it is necessary to employ suitable methods of vegetation management (e.g., grazing by animals). Furthermore, combining an appropriate method of vegetation management with rotating photovoltaic panels will further reduce fire hazards.
... Using LCA analyses, the embodied energy for the energy payback time (EPBT) is one indicator of the sustainability of PV panels. The review paper [19] summarizes various LCA studies that have been conducted in different countries for different types of solar panels. The average EPBT is about two to four years but varies between 1.45 [20] and 7.4 years [21]. ...
Almost all solutions addressing global warming and sustainable development depend on CO2 emission reductions from increased Photo-Voltaic (PV) power production. Despite the recent growth in PVinstallation in residential and larger-scale settings, deployments of solar panels will continue to accelerate over the near future, spurred by several factors. These include (i) the decrease in panel costs because of improvements in basic technology as well as manufacturing and scale efficiencies, (ii) the promotion of the technology by governments through subsidies for initial installations, (iii) the increasing conversion efficiency of solar panels, and in some cases, (iv) the increase in power costs because of a cessation of low-cost, high-emission generation methods. It is acknowledged that not much attention has been devoted to the end-of-life options for solar panels. The life of most commercially available panels is stated to exceed twenty years, and the lack of urgency in finding solutions may in part be attributed to the anticipated delay by which solutions are thought to be needed. In this paper it is demonstrated that based on economic considerations and recent trends of costs and technology improvements, it may be optimal to replace existing panels in as few as seven years. Thus, the “tsunami” of end-of-life solar panels may happen much sooner than anticipated, heightening the urgency for finding end-of-life solutions for solar panels. The analysis in this paper can also be used to evaluate the effects of subsidies for PV installations.
... Beccali et al. (Beccali et al., 2014) assessed the life cycle performance of a solar thermal cooling systems in small scale and conventional plants assisted with PV panels. Gerbinet and Belboom (Gerbinet et al., 2014) reviewed the life cycle assessment of photovoltaic panels. Moncaster and Symons (Moncaster and Symons, 2013) provided a method and tool for cradle to grave embodied energy and environmental effects of buildings in the UK in compliance with the international standards. ...
In this research paper, energy, exergy, economic and environmental analysis of a building integrated photo-voltaic thermal system is investigated. To cover the aim of the research, the impact of a system as a retrofit solution for the existing office building has been evaluated in different scenarios through various key performance indicators including generated electricity, energy and exergy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission reduction and life cycle cost. The scenario development for the analysis is based on the variation between glass windows and photovoltaic module surface area on the outer façade. According to the results of the study, a scenario with the lowest photovoltaic module and highest glass windows surface area has been suggested due to the highest energy efficiency, lowest initial investment, lowest energy consumption and emission for manufacturing. Besides, a scenario with the highest photovoltaic module and zero glass windows surface area has been suggested because of the highest lifetime generated and avoided energy and emission reduction, lowest payback time and greenhouse gas rate as well as highest life cycle revenue. In conclusion, a scenario with the highest photovoltaic module surface area with a payback time of 1.58 years and a life cycle revenue of 55,157 (USD) has been suggested as a feasible retrofit measure as a result of the energy, exergy, economic and environmental analysis.
... The emissions were lowered in terms of all the ReCiPe2016 categories, except for MRD and TET. The justification of the emissions increase in these two categories can be ascribed to the multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic panels: their installation affects MRD, and their usage affects TET, as previously observed in literature studies [40,41]. ...
The life cycle assessment (LCA) of the production of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/prednisolone (PDS) powders obtained by supercritical antisolvent (SAS) precipitation was performed to direct the production with a view to greater environmental sustainability. A 180 mg tablet containing the therapeutic dose of PDS (30 mg) was chosen as the functional unit, to which the emissions to air, water, and soil were reported. The analysis conducted with the aid of the SimaPro 9.1.1 software using primary data obtained by an Italian processor showed that the steps most impacting the environmental categories under study are the stabilization of the operating conditions, the injection step, and the washing step. An improved scenario aimed at lowering the impacts of these steps without altering the product was proposed, and a reduction of the global impact equal to 85.8 % is attainable.
... Intended for calculating environmental impacts of the production of such systems, the life cycle assessment (LCA) (International Organization for Standardization 2006) is the leading and most extensive methodology (European Commission 2003). The environmental burdens of some elements of these systems described herein have been extensively assessed, such as the manufacturing of PV panels in countries such as China, Germany and Spain (Sumper et al. 2011;Gerbinet et al. 2014;Yue et al. 2014;Fu et al. 2015;Hong et al. 2016;Xu et al. 2018;Lamnatou et al. 2019). Nonetheless, few studies have focused their interests only on the growing media used for soilless culture systems (Verhagen and Boon 2008;Warwick HRI 2009;Quantis 2012;Stucki et al. 2019;Vinci and Rapa 2019) because they are usually not assessed stand-alone and without relating them to plant management practices (e.g. ...
Purpose
New environmental strategies are emerging for cities to become more self-sufficient, such as hydroponic crop production. The implementation of such systems requires materials that usually originate in countries with low labour costs and other legal regulations. To what extent could these strategies be shifting problems across the globe? To answer this question, we performed a comprehensive environmental and social assessment of the various extended soilless systems used to grow vegetables on urban roofs.
Methods
Three different growing media constituents were chosen for this study: perlite, peat and coir; which are produced in three countries, Turkey, Germany and the Philippines, respectively, and are imported to Spain. By using a life cycle assessment, we evaluated the environmental performances of the production and transport of these growing media. Additionally, we performed a social life cycle assessment at different levels. First, we used the Social Hotspots Database to analyse the constituents in aggregated sectors. Second, we performed a social assessment at the country and sector levels, and finally, we evaluated primary company data for the social assessment of the constituents through questionnaires given to businesses.
Results and discussion
The coir-based growing medium exerted the lowest environmental burden in 5 out of 8 impact categories because it is a by-product from coconut trees. In contrast, perlite obtained the highest environmental impacts, with impacts 44 to 99.9% higher than those of peat and coir, except in the land use. Perlite is a material extracted from open-pit mines that requires high energy consumption and a long road trip. Regarding the social assessment, peat demonstrated the best performance on all the social assessment levels. In contrast, coir showed the worst scores in the Social Hotspots Database and for the impact categories of community infrastructure and human rights, whereas perlite displayed the lowest performance in health and safety. Nevertheless, coir and perlite evidenced much better scores than peat in the impact subcategory of the contribution to economic development.
Conclusions
This study contributes to a first comparison of three imported growing media constituents for urban rooftop farming from environmental and social perspectives to choose the most suitable option. Peat appears to be the best alternative from a social perspective. However, from an environmental standpoint, peat represents a growing medium whose availability is aiming to disappear in Germany to preserve peatlands. Therefore, we identify a new market niche for the development of local growing media for future rooftop farming in cities.
... It should be noted that due the lack of data, the LCA does not consider specific aspects of nanoparticles toxicity to humans and the environment. Risk assessment studies carried out for fullerene show that this aspect has to be taken into account [54] and appropriate risk management measures applied during production, use and waste disposal phases [55]. ...
A new composite heat transfer fluid consisting of tetralin and fullerene has been proposed for photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar harvesting. It features a unique absorption spectrum that is capable of sharply cutting off solar energy irradiated in the range of wavelength from 300 to 650 nm, making it a perfect candidate for simultaneous harvesting of both photovoltaic and thermal components of solar energy. The proposed composite revealed outstanding stability and facile synthesize root, which are the two main obstacles for applicability of nanofluids. It was shown experimentally that the additives of fullerene to tetralin do not alter significantly it’s thermophysical properties apart from viscosity that increases moderately. Besides, tetralin/fullerene solutions show similar thermohydraulics performance to that of pure tetralin in laminar flow regime or insignificantly lower in transient and turbulent flow regimes. A new figure of merit was proposed to analyze the thermohydraulics performance that consider not only exergy losses due to the kinetic energy dissipation, but also exergy losses associated with a finite temperature difference in the heat exchanger. As a result, the proposed figure of merit indicates the decrease of the heat transfer performance of tetralin/fullerene solutions that directly proportional to fullerene concentration. The performed simulation suggests that the total energy efficiency of flat-plate photovoltaic/thermal solar collector goes up to 60.4 % estimated according regulation (EU) No. 811/2013. Finally, life cycle analysis revealed further improvement root in view of environmental impact.
... -PV waste modules can produce pollutants causing from the leaching of metals, such as lead and silver into the environment, affecting the water and soil (Fthenakis, 2000;Berger et al., 2010;Frisson et al., 2000;Choi et al., 2014;Gerbinet et al., 2014;Stamford & Azapagic, 2018;Zong et al., 2011). ...
Thailand, the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, is now facing an increase of energy demand in the next 20 years by 80% due to its population and economic growths1 . Rather than increasing the consumption of oil and gas, this country has invested heavily in clean energy alternatives for electricity generation, one of which is photovoltaic (PV) solar. In early 2019, the first largest hydro-floating solar hybrid project was announced to be installed in Sirindhorn Dam, Ubon Ratchathani province, and currently, it is still in the midst of an installation process. This installation will be complete and the floating solar farm open for commercial operation in the middle of this year, 2021. With the life span of a solar panel is presumed to be 20-25 years2 , in the next few decades, these PV solar modules of this floating plant will be inefficient or unable to generate electricity anymore. This thesis, therefore, attempts to suggest recommendations for Thailand to manage PV solar waste properly. To do so, two SWOT analyses of two different countries - Thailand and China - will be used. China is another country chosen for this study due to its emerging characteristic to fight against pollution and starting to build a new floating solar plant in the abandoned mining area, Lianghuai3 . With the comparison, Thailand can draw lessons learned from China on how to manage PV solar waste in an environmentally friendly manner.
... It should be noted that due the lack of data, the LCA does not consider specific aspects of nanoparticles toxicity to humans and the environment. Risk assessment studies carried out for fullerene show that this aspect has to be taken into account [54] and appropriate risk management measures applied during production, use and waste disposal phases [55]. The similar pattern is shown for Cumulative Energy Demand ( Figure A2). ...
A new composite heat transfer fluid consisting of tetralin and fullerene has been proposed for photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar harvesting. It features a unique absorption spectrum that is capable of sharply cutting off solar energy irradiated in the range of wavelength from 300 to 650 nm, making it a perfect candidate for simultaneous harvesting of both photovoltaic and thermal components of solar energy. The proposed composite revealed outstanding stability and facile synthesize root, which are the two main obstacles for applicability of nanofluids. It was shown experimentally that the additives of fullerene to tetralin do not alter significantly it's thermo-physical properties apart from viscosity that increases moderately. Besides, tetralin/fullerene solutions show similar thermohydraulics performance to that of pure tetralin in laminar flow regime or insignificantly lower in transient and turbulent flow regimes. A new figure of merit was proposed to analyze the thermohydraulics performance that consider not only exergy losses due to the kinetic energy dissipation, but also exergy losses associated with a finite temperature difference in the heat exchanger. As a result, the proposed figure of merit indicates the decrease of the heat transfer performance of tetralin/fullerene solutions that directly proportional to fullerene concentration. The performed simulation suggests that the total energy efficiency of flat-plate photovoltaic/thermal solar collector goes up to 60.4 % estimated according regulation (EU) No. 811/2013. Finally, life cycle analysis revealed further improvement root in view of environmental impact.
Agrivoltaic systems have attracted considerable attention for increasing the renewable energy share in the Philippines while also focusing on decarbonizing electric power systems. Given the vast rice farming areas in the Philippines and their archipelagic geological location, the use of batteries was considered instead of extending transmission lines. The available locations of the rice farm areas and power grid constraints were considered in the power system. Through linear programming, the optimization of the power generation mix model uses the existing capacities of each generator and transmission line in each area of the Philippines, with a temporal resolution of 8760 h per year. The simulation suggests an optimal integration of power generation from agrivoltaics and/or batteries. A total of 11.04 TWh and 95.75 TWh could contribute to the energy mix by using 1% and 10% of agrivoltaics subjected in the rice farmlands, respectively. By simultaneously using batteries with 10% agrivoltaics, carbon emissions can be decreased by 85%, which is higher than the country's official target. This is the first study that provides a technically feasible picture of the large-scale integration of agrivoltaics into the Philippines' power sector.
The concentration of the population in cities has turned them into sources of environmental pollution, however, cities have a great potential for generating clean energy through renewable sources such as a responsible use of solar energy that reaches its rooftops. This work proposes a methodology to estimate the level of energy self-sufficiency in urban areas, particularly in a district of the city of Zaragoza (Spain). First, the Energy Self-Sufficiency Urban Module concept (ESSUM) is defined, then the self-sufficiency capacity of the city or district is determined using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) point clouds and cadastral data. Secondly, the environmental implications of the implementation of these modules in the rooftops of the city using the LCA methodology are calculated. The results obtained show that total self-sufficiency of Domestic Hot Water (DHW) can be achieved using 21 % of available rooftop area, meanwhile the rest of rooftop area, dedicated to photovoltaic (PV), can reach 20 % of electricity self-sufficiency, supposing a final balance of a reduction in CO2 emissions of 12,695.4 t CO2eq/y and energy savings of 372,468.5 GJ/y. This corresponds to a scenario where full self-sufficiency of DHW was prioritized, with the remaining roof area dedicated to PV installation. In addition, other scenarios have been analyzed, such as the implementation of the energy systems separately.
This work focuses on the numerical simulation of an on-grid hybrid combined heat and power (CHP) system to meet small residential demands, using natural gas and solar energy. The system includes a natural gas reformer, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (FC), photovoltaic panels (PV) and batteries connected to the grid by a bidirectional inverter. The impact of four parameters in the economic viability are investigated: number of consumers, electric and natural gas tariffs evolution, reverse metering factor and configuration of the system (energy sources, with or without storage). The results showed that the system can feed up to 4 consumers without significantly purchasing energy from the grid. Also, the electric tariffs exert more influence than natural gas tariffs over the performance of the system in terms of net present value. Dealing with configuration aspect, the FC + PV configuration provided earlier payback predictions, since fewer equipment substitutions were required. Reverse metering factor impact on system’s final profit and payback estimation was verified just slight. As results of environmental analysis conducted for the operation of the system, it was shown that emissions as low as 276.5 gCO2eq/kWh are achievable for the FC + PV configuration with cogeneration, meaning a 61.5% reduction in comparison with gas microturbines technology.
One of the most important needs of everyone is electricity, from households to industries. In recent years, electricity sources are still dependent on fossil fuels where energy sources from fossils will continue to decrease for several years to come. This condition requires us to look for renewable energy to support our daily lives. One of the well-known sources of renewable energy is from the sun, which can be utilized by energy conversion devices called solar cells. Countries located on the equator such as Indonesia are blessed with abundant sunshine throughout the year. Therefore, the application of solar cells with photovoltaic (PV) technology utilizes sunlight to be converted into electricity. Although this technology is emerging very quickly, there are still drawbacks due to the current use of PV technology, its environmental impact and economic feasibility. Life cycle assessment is a method or way to analyze and evaluate the sustainability of a PV system and its environmental impact. This paper presents a literature study of 'PV systems from cradle to gate', starting with material selection (from first generation and possibly fourth generation), manufacturing process, implementation, and ending with after-life effects. of the PV module. 'The result of this study is to show insight into the application of PV systems in Indonesia, starting from the best materials, the best application methods, energy return times, and finally the possibility of recycling PV materials after their lifetime. starting with the choice of material (from the first generation and possibly the fourth generation), the manufacturing process, implementation, and ending with the life effect of the PV module
The choice of a power plant in different nations depends on the required resources availability, abundance, and reliability. It is evident that renewable energy generation resources provide a more sustainable solution than the fossil fuels. However, as a complete system, renewable energy generation systems also have some overall environmental impacts on humankind and ecosystems. The main objective of this paper is to addresses the environmental effects caused by different types of renewable energy generation systems through process-based life-cycle impact analysis. A comparative study is carried out among different renewable energy generation technologies which include wind, photovoltaic, biomass, and hydro power. Life-cycle impact analysis has been carried out by Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Eco-indicator 99, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Ecopoints 97 approaches. The superiority of this work is creating a comprehensive life-cycle inventory following a reliable global database, assessing the impacts for about 10 midpoint impact categories and three endpoint indicators, and taking account of the fossil-fuel-based energy consumption rate of each plant. The key findings reveal that photovoltaic power plants have the highest environmental impacts in the types of ozone layer depletion, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marine aquatic ecotoxicity, while biomass plants impact on the categories of abiotic depletion, global warming, photochemical oxidation, acidification, and eutrophication. Moreover, the wind power plants have the more significant environmental effect on human toxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity types. Overall, hydropower plants are found to be much more environment-friendly than other renewable electricity generation systems.
Türkiye, güneş enerjisi potansiyeli yüksek bir coğrafi bölgede yer almaktadır. Güneş potansiyelini yüksek kılan meteorolojik faktörler, elektrik üretimini doğrudan etkilemektedir. Mevcut üreticiler için öngörülen meteorolojik şartlardaki elektrik üretimi tahmin etmek üretim planlaması yapmaya yardımcı olacaktır. Aynı zamanda yatırımcılar için farklı bölgelerde yapılacak yatırımlarda güç çıkışını önceden tahmin etmek teşvik edici olacaktır. Bu çalışmada İzmir Bakırçay Üniversitesi bünyesinde bulunan 400kW güce sahip güneş enerji santralinin 2020 yılına ait üretim verileri, İzmir Meteoroloji Bölge Müdürlüğü’nden elde edilen meteorolojik verilerle birlikte analiz edilmiş ve aylık periyotlarda karşılaştırılması yapılmıştır. Üretilen elektrik enerjisindeki değişimin meteorolojik faktörlerle ilişkilendirilerek açıklanmasıyla birlikte ilerde yapılacak üretimde ve yatırımlarda yol gösterici olması amaçlanmıştır.
University field stations are located off site from the main campuses and frequently in a natural setting, providing opportunity for students, faculty, and the public to engage with-and appreciate-local ecosystems. Their missions usually encompass the three cornerstones of environmental research, education, and outreach/community engagement, which go hand-in-hand with understanding and furthering sustainability. University field stations enhance environmental sustainability by helping to preserve a natural setting for coming generations, fostering research and monitoring of local ecosystems and their component biodiversity, and training the next generation and citizen scientists for field and laboratory work. Here we provide an example of how we are addressing sustainability through growth of the Lake Erie Center, a mid-sized university center with modest funding and staff that is located at the heart of land-water issues of runoff, sedimentation, algal blooms, legacy contaminants, and habitat loss facing the world's largest freshwater ecosystem of the Laurentian Great Lakes. We have networked our mission by building an Environmental Science Learning Community, which brings together faculty, students, educators, agencies, stakeholders, and the public to work towards the common goal of improving land-lake ecosystem services. This background has allowed us to rapidly respond to the August 2014 “Toledo Water Crisis” in which the Lake Erie water supply to 500,000 local citizens was contaminated by the algal toxin microcystin, resulting in a “do not drink” health advisory. The Lake Erie Center’s strategic location, both geographically and scientifically, has enhanced our effective education, research, and community engagement programs.
Energy storage (ES) is seen as the key to unlocking the true potential of renewable generation as it potentially supports their integration into the grid by providing capability for services such balancing and frequency regulation. It also has the potential to reduce peak power demand reduction (a form of arbitrage) and this service will be important for distribution companies as it frees capacity on the grid. The first part of this study presents an energy management strategy (EMS) that reduces the peak power drawn from the grid by a community of 60 homes using ES and local generation (in this case photovoltaic panels (PVs)). The EMS is tested on hundreds of cases and shows an average yearly peak reduction of around 30% in the best cases. The second part of the paper tests the economic viability and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of the cases explored and shows that trade-offs exist between electricity supply costs, peak power reduction, and life cycle GHG reductions. PV generation provides a significant reduction in GHG emissions but makes little contribution to reducing peak demand from the grid. In contrast, community energy storage (in batteries) is effective at reducing peak demand, but at significant additional costs, and may result in a modest increase in GHG emissions due to emissions associated with battery manufacture and roundtrip efficiency. Future cost projections for 2040 for PV and battery, together with longer a battery cycle life, show that considerable reductions in the cost of community electricity generation and storage can be made to encourage the management of peak grid demand.
The Solaire Building has the first façade building‐integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) array in New York City. This paper presents the life cycle impacts of the Solaire BIPV and extrapolates its performance to other façade systems. Engineering diagrams, detailed material inventories and 5 years of irradiation and actual performance data in 15‐min intervals offer insights into current BIPV construction and performance. The Solaire BIPV employs waste‐stream monocrystalline silicon wafers. Correspondingly, zero energy input was allocated to this BIPV from wafer production, resulting to a very low energy payback time (EPBT) and global warming potential burden (0.8 years and −10.2 g CO2/kWh, respectively). A negative EPBT results from subtracting the impact of the thermally and structurally equivalent concrete and brick wall that the BIPV array replaced. Data from current photovoltaic‐dedicated Si wafer supply were also used; these resulted with an EPBT of 3.8 years and a global warming potential of 61 g CO2/kWh. The performance ratio and EPBT of the Solaire system were compared with those in the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Task 2 inventory database. The drawback of façade BIPV is its vertical orientation, receiving lower incident irradiation than rooftop and ground installations. Nevertheless, BIPV offers two main advantages over such installations: it does not require any ‘virgin’ land for its operation, and it replaces structural units, thus avoiding the cost, embodied energy and corresponding emissions related to those. We detail herein how the replacement of traditional cladding materials can offset the performance drawback of BIPV, in terms of environmental burden and EPBT. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper presents the preliminary results of an environmental evaluation carried out by the application of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), to a new method proposed for managing the end of life of thin film photovoltaic panels that is being developed by a company leader in design and installation of photovoltaic solutions. The new method is being developed in an experimental test facility established by the company for implementing a series of mechanical and hydro mechanical treatments to thin film panels at the end of their life before the ultimate material recovery phase.The main innovation of the method consists in the elimination of the thermal treatments and the reduction of chemicals needed for recovering valuable materials, in favor of mechanical processes. The results demonstrate that the mechanical treatments used in the pre-treatment phase of the module has a positive effect in almost all the damage categories defined in the LCA and contribute significantly to the reduction of the global warming and the carbon footprint of the photovoltaic technology.
In this paper we argue for a typology of various information-structural func- tionsin terms of three privative features: (topic), (focus) and (contrast) (seealsoVallduv´õ and Vilkuna 1998, Molnar 2002, McCoy 2003, and Giusti 2006). Aboutness topics and contrastive topics share the feature (topic), new-information foci and contrastive foci share the feature (focus), and contrastive topics and contrastive foci share the feature (contrast). This typology is supported by data from Dutch (where only contrastive ele- ments may undergo A'-scrambling), Japanese (where aboutness topics and contrastive topicsmust appear sentence-initially), and Russian(where the new-information foci and contrastive foci share the same underlying position).To the best of our knowledge, there are no generalizations over information-structural functions that do not share one of the features adopted here.
This study compares the environmental impacts of a polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) module and a wind turbine using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. This study models landfill disposal and recycling scenarios of the decommissioned PV module and wind turbine, and compares their impacts to those of the other stages in the life cycles. The comparison establishes that the wind turbine has smaller environmental impacts in almost all of the categories assessed. The disposal stage can become a major contributor to the environmental impacts, depending on disposal scenarios. Recycling is an environmentally efficient method, because of its environmental benefits derived from energy savings and resource reclaimed. The end-of-life recycling scenario for a wind turbine has a significant part on the environmental impacts and should not be ignored. However, many factors also influence the degree to which recycling can be beneficial. With the wind turbine recycling scenario, when large quantities of waste are recycled, the potential savings can be quite large, while with the PV module, small quantities of recycled waste mean that the benefits of recycling are not fully reaped.
Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)-based solar cells have the lowest ecological impact of photovoltaic (PV) materials. In order to continue to improve the environmental performance of PV manufacturing using proposed industrial symbiosis techniques, this paper performs a life cycle analysis (LCA) on both conventional 1-GW scaled a-Si:H-based single junction and a-Si:H/microcrystalline-Si:H tandem cell solar PV manufacturing plants and such plants coupled to silane recycling plants. Both the energy consumed and greenhouse gas emissions are tracked in the LCA, then silane gas is reused in the manufacturing process rather than standard waste combustion. Using a recycling process that results in a silane loss of only 17% instead of conventional processing that loses 85% silane, results in an energy savings of 81,700 GJ and prevents 4400 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere per year for the single junction plant. Due to the increased use of silane for the relatively thick microcrystalline-Si:H layers in the tandem junction plants, the savings are even more substantial – 290,000 GJ of energy savings and 15.6 million kg of CO2 eq. emission reductions per year. This recycling process reduces the cost of raw silane by 68%, or approximately $22.6 million per year for a 1-GW a-Si:H-based PV production facility and over $79 million per year for tandem manufacturing. The results are discussed and conclusions are drawn about the technical feasibility and environmental benefits of silane recycling in an eco-industrial park centered around a-Si:H-based PV manufacturing plants.
Purpose
The main goal of the paper is to carry out the first implementation of sustainability assessment of the assembly step of photovoltaic (PV) modules production by Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) and the development of the Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard (LCSD), in order to compare LCSA results of different PV modules. The applicability and practicability of the LCSD is reported thanks to a case study. The results show that LCSA can be considered a valuable tool to support decision-making processes that involve different stakeholders with different knowledge and background.
Method
The sustainability performance of the production step of Italian and German polycrystalline silicon modules is assessed using the LCSD. The LCSD is an application oriented to the presentation of an LCSA study. LCSA comprises life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing and social LCA (S-LCA). The primary data collected for the German module are related to two different years, and this led to the evaluation of three different scenarios: a German 2008 module, a German 2009 module, and an Italian 2008 module.
Results and discussion
According to the LCA results based on Ecoindicator 99, the German module for example has lower values of land use [1.77 potential disappeared fractions (PDF) m2/year] and acidification (3.61 PDF m2/year) than the Italian one (land use 1.99 PDF m2/year, acidification 3.83 PDF m2/year). However, the German module has higher global warming potential [4.5E–05 disability-adjusted life years (DALY)] than the Italian one [3.00E−05 DALY]. The economic costs of the German module are lower than the Italian one, e.g. the cost of electricity per FU for the German module is 0.12 €/m2 compared to the Italian 0.85 €/m2. The S-LCA results show significant differences between German module 2008 and 2009 that represent respectively the best and the worst overall social performances of the three considered scenarios compared by LCSD. The aggregate LCSD results show that the German module 2008 has the best overall sustainability performance and a score of 665 points out of 1,000 (and a colour scale of light green). The Italian module 2008 has the worst overall sustainability performance with a score of 404 points, while the German module 2009 is in the middle with 524 points.
Conclusions
The LCSA and LCSD methodologies represent an applicable framework as a tool for supporting decision-making processes which consider sustainable production and consumption. However, there are still challenges for a meaningful application, particularly the questions of the selection of social LCA indicators and how to weigh sets for the LCSD.
Together with 11 European and US photovoltaic companies an extensive effort has been made to collect Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data that represents the status of production technology for crystalline silicon modules for the year 2004. These data can be used to evaluate the environmental impacts of photovoltaic solar energy systems.
The new data covers all processes from silicon feedstock production via wafer- and cell- to module manufacturing. All commercial wafer technologies are covered, i.e multi- and mono-crystalline wafers as well as ribbon technologies. For monocrystalline silicon wafer production further improvement of the data quality is recommended.
Goal, Scope and Background This paper describes the modelling of two emerging electricity systems based on renewable energy: photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. The paper shows the approach used in the ecoinvent database for multi-output processes.Methods Twelve different, grid-connected photovoltaic systems were studied for the situation in Switzerland. They are manufactured as panels or laminates, from mono- or polycrystalline silicon, installed on facades, slanted or flat roofs, and have a 3kWp capacity. The process data include quartz reduction, silicon purification, wafer, panel and laminate production, supporting structure and dismantling. The assumed operational lifetime is 30 years. Country-specific electricity mixes have been considered in the LCI in order to reflect the present situation for individual production stages.
The assessment of wind power includes four different wind turbines with power rates between 30 kW and 800 kW operating in Switzerland and two wind turbines assumed representative for European conditions 800 kW onshore and 2 MW offshore. The inventory takes into account the construction of the plants including the connection to the electric grid and the actual wind conditions at each site in Switzerland. Average European capacity factors have been assumed for the European plants. Eventually necessary backup electricity systems are not included in the analysis.Results and Discussion The life cycle inventory analysis for photovoltaic power shows that each production stage may be important for specific elementary flows. A life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) shows that there are important environmental impacts not directly related to the energy use (e.g. process emissions of NOx from wafer etching). The assumption for the used supply energy mixes is important for the overall LCIA results of different production stages. The allocation of the inventory for silicon purification to different products is discussed here to illustrate how allocation has been implemented in ecoinvent.
Material consumption for the main parts of the wind turbines gives the dominant contributions to the cumulative results for electricity production. The complex installation of offshore turbines, with high requirements of concrete for the foundation and the assumption of a shorter lifetime compared to onshore foundations, compensate the advantage of increased offshore wind speeds.Conclusion The life cycle inventories for photovoltaic power plants are representative for newly constructed plants and for the average photovoltaic mix in Switzerland in the year 2000. A scenario for a future technology helps to assess the relative influence of technology improvements for some processes in the near future (2005-2010). The differences for environmental burdens of wind power basically depend upon the capacity factor of the plants, the lifetime of the infrastructure, and the rated power. The higher these factors, the more reduced the environmental burdens are. Thus, both systems are quite dependent on meteorological conditions and the materials used for the infrastructure.Recommendation and Perspective Many production processes for photovoltaic power are still under development. Future updates of the LCI should verify the energy uses and emissions with available data from industrial processes in operation. For the modelling of a specific power plant or power plant mixes outside of Switzerland, one has to consider the annual yield (kWh/kWp) and if possible also the size of the plant. Considering the steady growth of the size of wind turbines in Europe, the development of new designs, and the exploitation of offshore location with deeper waters than analysed in this study, the inventory for wind power plants may need to be updated in the future.
The various detrimental environmental and health effects of conventional electricity generation have long been recognized. Renewable technologies offer the opportunity for reducing such impacts, but, during their entire life cycle, their use is not without effects. Indeed, some major European and Australian studies portrayed photovoltaic systems as causing significant life-cycle environmental and health impacts, due to the fossil energy used in the production of cell and module materials. However, the most recent studies on the life-cycle impacts of c-Si and thin film photovoltaics show that they are drastically lower than the ones earlier reported. Such improvements reflect the more effective use of material, thinner layers, improvements in the balance-of-systems components and installation, frameless modules, and higher conversion efficiencies. This paper summarizes a comparison of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the life-cycle of PV, nuclear, fossil and biomass electricity generation in the U.S
High impact publications recently depicted PV technologies as having higher external environmental costs than those of nuclear energy and natural-gas-fueled power plants. These assessments are based on old data and unbalanced assumptions, and they illustrate the need for LCA data describing the continuously improving photovoltaic systems and the inclusion of social benefits in this comparison.
The direct and indirect emissions associated with photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation are evaluated, focussing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar module production. Electricity supply technologies used in the entire PV production chain are found to be most influential. Emissions associated with only the electricity-input in the production of PV vary as much as 0–200 g CO2-eq per kWh electricity generated by PV. This wide range results because of specific supply technologies one may assume to provide the electricity-input in PV production, i.e., whether coal-, gas-, wind-, or PV-power facilities in the “background” provide the electricity supply for powering the entire PV production chain. The heat input in the entire PV production chain, for which mainly the combustion of natural gas is assumed, adds another ∼16 CO2-eq/kWh. The GHG emissions directly attributed to c-Si PV technology alone constitute only ∼1–2 g CO2-eq/kWh. The difference in scale indicates the relevance of reporting “indirect” emissions due to energy input in PV production separately from “direct” emissions particular to PV technology. In this article, we also demonstrate the utilization of “direct” and “indirect” shares of emissions for the calculation of GHG emissions in simplified world electricity- and PV-market development scenarios. Results underscore very large GHG mitigation realized by solar PV toward increasingly significant PV market shares.
Together with a number of PV companies an extensive effort has been made to collect Life Cycle Inventory data that represents the current status of production technology for crystalline silicon modules. The new data cover all processes from silicon feedstock production to cell and module manufacturing. All commercial wafer technologies are covered, that is multi- and monocrystalline wafers as well as ribbon technology. The presented data should be representative for the technology status in 2004, although for monocrystalline Si crystallisation further improvement of the data quality is recommended. On the basis of the new data a Life Cycle Assessment has been performed, which shows that c-Si PV systems are in a good position to compete with other energy technologies. Energy Pay-Back Times of 1.7-2.7 yr are found for South-European locations, while life-cycle CO 2 emissions are in the 30-45 g/kWh range. Clear perspectives exist for further improvements of roughly 40-50%.
Photovoltaic (PV) technologies have shown remarkable progress recently in terms of annual production capacity and life cycle environmental performances, which necessitate timely updates of environmental indicators. Based on PV production data of 2004–2006, this study presents the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutant emissions, and heavy metal emissions from four types of major commercial PV systems: multicrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, ribbon silicon, and thin-film cadmium telluride. Life-cycle emissions were determined by employing average electricity mixtures in Europe and the United States during the materials and module production for each PV system. Among the current vintage of PV technologies, thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV emits the least amount of harmful air emissions as it requires the least amount of energy during the module production. However, the differences in the emissions between different PV technologies are very small in comparison to the emissions from conventional energy technologies that PV could displace. As a part of prospective analysis, the effect of PV breeder was investigated. Overall, all PV technologies generate far less life-cycle air emissions per GWh than conventional fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies. At least 89% of air emissions associated with electricity generation could be prevented if electricity from photovoltaics displaces electricity from the grid.
Photovoltaic system is a technology for the production of electricity from renewable sources that is rapidly expanding thanks to its capability to reduce the energy consumption from traditional sources and to decrease the air pollution. During the exercise phase, there are no emissions and the only input is represented by solar power. However, it should be noted that, considering the entire life cycle of a plant, photovoltaic systems, like any other means of electricity production, give rise to emissions, that focus especially in the manufacturing stage and installation of components.
The present work aims at evaluating the environmental impact, and therefore the actual sustainability of this technology, examining a ground-mounted 1,778.48 kWp photovoltaic plant, realized by TerniEnergia (joint stock company) and located in Marsciano (Perugia, Italy). The analysis is conducted using the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which allows to consider all stages of the life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the plant’s disposal (“from a cradle to grave perspective”). In particular, the study takes into account the soil preparation, the installation of fence and electrical substations of low and medium voltage, the mounting of support structures, also with reference to hot dip galvanizing process, the production of modules, their installation, the wiring apparatus and the network connection. The transport of all components to the installation site is considered for each stage that is examined. The end of life scenario of the plant is also evaluated. The possibility to collect many detailed information in the construction site, during the building phase, adds value to the study. The analysis is carried out according to UNI EN ISO 14040 and UNI EN ISO 14044, which regulate the LCA procedure.
The LCA modelling was performed using SimaPro software application and using Eco Indicator 99 methodology. The results of the analysis allows to calculate some important parameters like EPBT (Energy Pay-Back Time), EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested), CO2 emissions and GWP100 (Global Warming Potential). Finally, the environmental impact of photovoltaic plant is compared to that of some traditional energy production systems.
This paper presents an environmental life cycle assessment of a roof-integrated flexible solar cell laminate with tandem solar cells composed of amorphous silicon/nanocrystalline silicon (a-Si/nc-Si). The a-Si/nc-Si cells are considered to have 10% conversion efficiency. Their expected service life is 20 years. The production scale considered is 100 MWp per year. A comparison of the a-Si/nc-Si photovoltaic (PV) system with the roof-mounted multicrystalline silicon (multi-Si) PV system is also presented. For both PV systems, application in the Netherlands with an annual insolation of 1000 kWh/m2 is considered. We found that the overall damage scores of the a-Si/nc-Si PV system and the multi-Si PV system are 0.012 and 0.010 Ecopoints/kWh, respectively. For both PV systems, the impacts due to climate change, human toxicity, particulate matter formation, and fossil resources depletion together contribute to 96% of the overall damage scores. Each of both PV systems has a cumulative primary energy demand of 1.4 MJ/kWh. The cumulative primary energy demand of the a-Si/nc-Si PV system has an uncertainty of up to 41%. For the a-Si/nc-Si PV system, an energy payback time of 2.3 years is derived. The construction for roof integration, the silicon deposition, and etching are found to be the largest contributors to the primary energy demand of the a-Si/nc-Si PV system, whereas encapsulation and the construction for roof integration are the largest contributors to its impact on climate change. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The environmental profiles of photovoltaic (PV) systems are becoming better as materials are used more efficiently in their production, and overall system performance improves. Our analysis details the material and energy inventories in the life cycle of high‐concentration PV systems, and, based on measured field‐performances, evaluates their energy payback times, life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and usage of land and water. Although operating high‐concentration PV systems require considerable maintenance, their life cycle environmental burden is much lower than that of the flat‐plate c‐Si systems operating in the same high‐insolation regions. The estimated energy payback times of the Amonix 7700 PV system in operation at Phoenix, AZ, is only 0.9 year, and its estimated greenhouse gas emissions are 27 g CO2‐eq./kWh over 30 years, or approximately 16 g CO2‐eq./kWh over 50 years. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Indicators of efficiency and environmental performance are fundamental to marking progress toward more sustainable patterns of human development. Central to indicator development is a common framework through which the wide range of environmental assessment methods may make comparative analysis. Clear and consistent definitions of system boundaries and input categories are essential to their interpretation, and form a necessary pre-requisite for meaningful comparisons of competing systems. A common framework of foreground and background categories, consistent with both LCA and Emergy Synthesis, is identified and discussed as the basis for the calculation of performance indicators. In this paper a revised operational definition of the Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR) is introduced, in light of the proposed categorization scheme, for consistent application to technological processes. Two case studies, namely CdTe PV and oil-fired thermal electricity production, are investigated. The Unit Emergy Value (UEV) of electricity generated by the thermal plant was calculated as 5.69E5 seJ/J with services and 5.11E5 seJ/J without services. The UEV for electricity generated by the PV system is 1.45E5 seJ/J with services, and 7.93E4 seJ/J without services. The computed EYRs including services are 6.8 for thermal electricity and 2.2 for PV electricity.
Recognized as an indispensable player in the future electricity supply mix of China, photovoltaic (PV) power has experienced a fast expansion in recent years. Owing to the higher cost compared with traditional coal-fired power, financial subsidy is crucial for the development of PV power. Although a series of policies have been implemented to subsidize PV power, strong and steady policies to stimulate China's PV power installation is still in need. One important reason for the lack of such policies is that whether the benefits associated with PV power cover the cost of subsidy is unclear. In this paper, we carry out a detailed study to quantify the co-benefit from the replacement of traditional coal-fired power by the large-scale photovoltaic power (LS-PV) comprised of polycrystalline cells in China. Our life cycle analysis (LCA) shows that the estimated co-benefit of polycrystalline LS-PV is 0.167 yuan/kWh, and the year of grid parity will come about 4 years earlier in China if the co-benefit is internalized.
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of a Building Integrated Concentrated Photovoltaic (BICPV) scheme at the University of Lleida (Spain) is conducted. Assumptions for representing a real building are considered, and a comparison to a hypothetical conventional Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) scheme is established. The Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is performed using the EI99 methodology, which is considered to be the reference. In addition, the environmental impact is re-evaluated using the EPS 2000 methodology. The results show a significant extent of the environmental benefits gained using the BICPV schemes. Some differences in the components impact contribution percentages are noticed between the EI99 and the EPS 2000 methodologies. Nevertheless, both methodologies coincide in the conclusion of the significant environmental impact reduction reached from replacing the conventional BIPV schemes with the BICPV ones. Recommendations for future work and system improvements are discussed as well.
Solar energy is an important alternative energy source to fossil fuels and theoretically the most available energy source on the earth. Solar energy can be converted into electric energy by using two different processes: by means of thermodynamic cycles and the photovoltaic conversion.Solar thermal technologies, sometimes called thermodynamic solar technologies, operating at medium (about 500 °C) and high temperatures (about 1000 °C), have recently attracted a renewed interest and have become one of the most promising alternatives in the field of solar energy utilization.Photovoltaic conversion is very interesting, although still quite expensive, because of the absence of moving components and the reduced operating and management costs.The main objectives of the present work are:•to carry out comparative technical evaluations on the amount of electricity produced by two hypothetical plants, located on the same site, for which a preliminary design was made: a solar thermal power plant with parabolic trough collectors and a photovoltaic plant with a single-axis tracking system;•to carry out a comparative analysis of the environmental impact derived from the processes of electricity generation during the whole life cycle of the two hypothetical power plants.First a technical comparison between the two plants was made assuming that they have the same nominal electric power and then the same total covered surface.The methodology chosen to evaluate the environmental impact associated with the power plants is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). It allows to analyze all the phases of the life cycle of the plants, from the extraction of raw materials until their disposal, following the “from cradle to grave” perspective. The environmental impact of the two power plants was simulated by using the software SimaPro 7.1, elaborated by PRé Consultants and using the Eco-Indicator 99 methodology.Finally, the results of the analysis of the environmental impact are used to calculate the following parameters associated to the power plants: EPBT (Energy Pay-Back Time), CO2 emissions and GWP100 (Global Warming Potential over a 100 year time horizon).
The life-cycle analysis (LCA) of photovoltaic (PV) systems is an important tool to quantify the potential environmental advantage of using solar technologies versus more traditional technologies, especially the ones relying on non-renewable fossil fuel sources.This work performs a life-cycle assessment on a 200kW roof top photovoltaic (PV) system with polycrystalline silicon modules and evaluates the net energy pay-back and greenhouse gas emission rates. The performed life-cycle assessment “upstream” and “downstream” processes are considered, such as raw materials production, fabrication of system components, transportation and installation. The energy pay-back time ratio is determined for the installed technology and two other technologies of PV modules (monocrystalline and thin-film).The analysed PV system, located in Pineda de Mar (Catalonia, Spain), has an energy pay-back time ratio of 4.36 years. Furthermore, a sensibility analysis on solar radiation has been performed.
Published scientific literature contains many studies estimating life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential and utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PVs). Despite the volume of published work, variability in results hinders generalized conclusions. Most variance between studies can be attributed to differences in methods and assumptions. To clarify the published results for use in decision making and other analyses, we conduct a meta-analysis of existing studies, harmonizing key performance characteristics to produce more comparable and consistently derived results.
Screening 397 life cycle assessments (LCAs) relevant to PVs yielded 13 studies on crystalline silicon (c-Si) that met minimum standards of quality, transparency, and relevance. Prior to harmonization, the median of 42 estimates of life cycle GHG emissions from those 13 LCAs was 57 grams carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (g CO2-eq/kWh), with an interquartile range (IQR) of 44 to 73. After harmonizing key performance characteristics (irradiation of 1,700 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year (kWh/m2/yr); system lifetime of 30 years; module efficiency of 13.2% or 14.0%, depending on module type; and a performance ratio of 0.75 or 0.80, depending on installation, the median estimate decreased to 45 and the IQR tightened to 39 to 49. The median estimate and variability were reduced compared to published estimates mainly because of higher average assumptions for irradiation and system lifetime.
For the sample of studies evaluated, harmonization effectively reduced variability, providing a clearer synopsis of the life cycle GHG emissions from c-Si PVs. The literature used in this harmonization neither covers all possible c-Si installations nor represents the distribution of deployed or manufactured c-Si PVs.
The use of two axes tracking systems has been widely implemented because of the higher rates in energy production that these systems can achieve. However, the reduction of the PV modules cost makes the economic advantage of these tracking systems not so evident and this has aroused the interest of analysing them from other points of view such as efficiency or energy performance and environmental impact.Most of the existing LCA studies related to Photovoltaic systems are focused in the comparison of the different technologies used for cell production; some reports include also the module assembly, but there is little information regarding the environmental impact caused by the complete solar photovoltaic plant.In this paper, a Life cycle analysis of two types of installations (with and without solar tracking) in different geographic locations is presented. The methodology, based on recognized international standards, provides the best framework for assessing the most relevant factors causing the environmental impacts and gives relevant information for further improvements. The results also allow the comparison of different solutions and the calculation of the Energy and Environmental Payback time of both configurations.Highlights► We think that the main contributions of this paper are the following: ► Life cycle assessment of different configurations of a solar farm, with and without sun-tracking systems. ► Assessment of the environmental impact depending on the Energy mix avoided. ► Use of alternative eco-indicators for the assessment of solar photovoltaic energy production. ► Factors that influence the environmental impact of a PV plant during its life cycle. Sensitivity analysis.
Photovoltaic installations (PV-systems) are heavily promoted in Europe. In this paper, the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) method is used to find out whether the high subsidy cost can be justified by the environmental benefits. Most existing LCAs of PV only use one-dimensional indicators and are only valid for regions with a high solar irradiation. This paper, however, presents a broad environmental evaluation of residential PV-systems for regions with a rather low solar irradiation of 900-1000Â kWh/m2/year, a value typical for Northern Europe and Canada. Based on the Ecoinvent LCA database, six Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods were considered for six different PV-technologies; the comprehensive Eco-Indicator 99 (EI 99) with its three perspectives (Hierarchist, Egalitarian and Individualistic) next to three one-dimensional indicators, namely Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the Energy Payback Time (EPT). For regions with low solar irradiation, we found that the EPT is less than 5 years. The Global Warming Potential of PV-electricity is about 10 times lower than that of electricity from a coal fired plant, but 4 times higher when compared to a nuclear power plant or a wind farm. Surprisingly, our results from the more comprehensive EI 99 assessment method do not correlate at all with our findings based on EPT and GWP. The results from the Individualist perspective are strongly influenced by the weighting of the different environmental aspects, which can be misleading. Therefore, to obtain a well-balanced environmental assessment of energy technologies, we recommend a carefully evaluated combination of various impact assessment methods.
This paper assesses modeling parameters that affect the environmental performance of two state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation technologies: the PVL136 thin film laminates and the KC120 multi-crystalline modules. We selected three metrics to assess the modules’ environmental performance, which are part of an actual 33 kW installation in Ann Arbor, MI. The net energy ratio (NER), the energy pay back time (E-PBT), and the CO2 emissions are calculated using process based LCA methods. The results reveal some of the parameters, such as the level of solar radiation, the position of the modules, the modules’ manufacturing energy intensity and its corresponding fuel mix, and the solar radiation conversion efficiency of the modules, which affect the final analytical results. A sensitivity analysis shows the effect of selected parameters on the final results. For the baseline scenario, the E-PBT for the PVL136 and KC120 are 3.2 and 7.5 years, respectively. When expected future conversion efficiencies are tested, the E-PBT is 1.6 and 5.7 years for the PVL136 and the KC120, respectively. Based on the US fuel mix, the CO2 emissions for the PVL136 and the KC120 are 34.3 and 72.4 g of CO2/kW h, respectively. The most effective way to improve the modules’ environmental performance is to reduce the energy input in the manufacturing phase of the modules, provided that other parameters remain constant. Consequently, the use of PV as an electricity source during PV manufacturing is also assessed. The NER of the supplier PV is key for the performance of this scheme. The results show that the NER based on a PV system can be 3.7 times higher than the NER based on electricity supplied by the traditional grid mix, and the CO2 emissions can be reduced by 80%.
To ensure photovoltaics become a major sustainable player in a competitive power-generation market, they must provide abundant, affordable electricity, with environmental impacts drastically lower than those from conventional power generation. The recent reduction in the cost of 2nd generation thin-film PV is remarkable, meeting the production milestone of $1 per watt in the fourth quarter of 2008. This achievement holds great promise for the future. However, the questions remaining are whether the expense of PV modules can be lowered further, and if there are resource- and environmental-impact constraints to growth. I examine the potential of thin-films in a prospective life-cycle analysis, focusing on direct costs, resource availability, and environmental impacts. These three aspects are closely related; developing thinner solar cells and recycling spent modules will become increasingly important in resolving cost, resource, and environmental constraints to large scales of sustainable growth.
The paper presents the results of a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the electric generation by means of photovoltaic panels. It considers mass and energy flows over the whole production process starting from silica extraction to the final panel assembling, considering the most advanced and consolidate technologies for polycrystalline silicon panel production. Some considerations about the production cycle are reported; the most critical phases are the transformation of metallic silicon into solar silicon and the panel assembling. The former process is characterised by a great electricity consumption, even if the most efficient conversion technology is considered, the latter by the use of aluminium frame and glass roofing, which are very energy-intensive materials. Moreover, the energy pay back time (EPBT) and the potential for CO2 mitigation have been evaluated, considering different geographic collocations of the photovoltaic plant with different values of solar radiation, latitude, altitude and national energetic mix for electricity production.
The sizing optimization of a Stand-Alone Photovoltaic system (SAPV) is a very complex issue. Therefore, a compromise solution must be made between having an acceptable energy and economic cost for the consumer, and a relatively correct energy supply quality. The Gross Energy Requirement (GER) of an SAPV system corresponds to the primary energy total amount required for the production, the maintenance and the recycling of this system. Reducing the GER is thus, an effective way to promote the development of SAPV systems. Therefore, the load profile management, in order to get closer to the ideal “solar” consumer, allows the downsizing of the system. In this paper, a methodology for studying the impact of load profiles on GER is proposed. Two different modifications parameters have been considered theoretically on idealized load and production profiles: the load shifting which seems simpler to implement in the reality, and the amplitude modulation. Furthermore, the NSGA-II genetic algorithm has been used to confirm theoretical outcomes and to optimize SAPV system sizing for three realistic load profiles, with the aim of quantifying the GER reduction, by minimizing the storage capacity (taking into account the replacements due to cycling) which is one of the weak points of such a system, and by PV panels downsizing.
The photovoltaic energy sector is rapidly expanding and technological specification for PV has improved dramatically in the last two decades. This paper sketches the current state of the art and drafts three alternative scenarios for the future, in terms of costs, market penetration and environmental performance. According to these scenarios, if economic incentives are supported long enough into the next ten to twenty years, PV looks set for a rosy future, and is likely to play a significant role in the future energy mix, while at the same time contributing to reduce the environmental impact of electricity supply.
Life-cycle analysis is an invaluable tool for investigating the environmental profile of a product or technology from cradle to grave. Such life-cycle analyses of energy technologies are essential, especially as material and energy flows are often interwoven, and divergent emissions into the environment may occur at different life-cycle-stages. This approach is well exemplified by our description of material and energy flows in four commercial PV technologies, i.e., mono-crystalline silicon, multi-crystalline silicon, ribbon-silicon, and cadmium telluride. The same life-cycle approach is applied to the balance of system that supports flat, fixed PV modules during operation. We also discuss the life-cycle environmental metrics for a concentration PV system with a tracker and lenses to capture more sunlight per cell area than the flat, fixed system but requires large auxiliary components. Select life-cycle risk indicators for PV, i.e., fatalities, injures, and maximum consequences are evaluated in a comparative context with other electricity-generation pathways.
This study aims to stimulate the discussion on how to optimize a sustainable energy mix from an environmental perspective and how to apply existing renewable energy sources in the most efficient way. Ground-mounted photovoltaics (PV) and the maize–biogas-electricity route are compared with regard to their potential to mitigate environmental pressure, assuming that a given agricultural area is available for energy production. Existing life cycle assessment (LCA) studies are taken as a basis to analyse environmental impacts of those technologies in relation to conventional technology for power and heat generation. The life-cycle-wide mitigation potential per area used is calculated for the impact categories non-renewable energy input, green house gas (GHG) emissions, acidification and eutrophication. The environmental performance of each system depends on the scenario that is assumed for end energy use (electricity and heat supply have been contemplated). In all scenarios under consideration, PV turns out to be superior to biogas in almost all studied impact categories. Even when maize is used for electricity production in connection with very efficient heat usage, and reduced PV performance is assumed to account for intermittence, PV can still mitigate about four times the amount of green house gas emissions and non-renewable energy input compared to maize–biogas. Soil erosion, which can be entirely avoided with PV, exceeds soil renewal rates roughly 20-fold on maize fields. Regarding the overall Eco-indicator 99 (H) score under most favourable assumptions for the maize–biogas route, PV has still a more than 100% higher potential to mitigate environmental burden. At present, the key advantages of biogas are its price and its availability without intermittence. In the long run, and with respect to more efficient land use, biogas might preferably be produced from organic waste or manure, whereas PV should be integrated into buildings and infrastructures.
Sustainable development requires methods and tools to measure and compare the environmental impacts of human activities for various products viz. goods, services, etc. This paper presents a review of life cycle assessment (LCA) of solar PV based electricity generation systems. Mass and energy flow over the complete production process starting from silica extraction to the final panel assembling has been considered. Life cycle assessment of amorphous, mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline and most advanced and consolidate technologies for the solar panel production has been studied.
