Yuyue Wang’s research while affiliated with University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and other places

Solar power is a crucial force in renewable energy. The production of solar photovoltaic (PV) has nonnegligible effects on the environment, and the economic properties of various PV technologies range. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Multi-objective Optimization (MOO) methodologies were utilized in this research to establish an optimization model of PV technology regional planning that took into account combined environmental impacts and Electricity Supply Cost (ESC). Through NSGA-II genetic algorithm, the Pareto optimal solution with the minimum environmental pollution and the lowest economic cost in the whole life cycle of solar PV technology is obtained. The results demonstrated that toxic environmental impacts are the primary categories of crystalline silicon PV panels' potential environmental impacts, and monocrystalline silicon PV technology is the more advantageous choice when considering environmental impact and ESC. Results of sensitivity analysis indicated that uncertain factors would affect the scheme selection. This research offers a planning methodology for regional sustainable development of solar PV technology considering both environmental and economic objectives.

China has witnessed a construction boom and thus an enormous amount of cement use in the past decades. At the same time, cement manufacturing technology has been upgraded rapidly. Here, based on national- and provincial-level data, we adopt regression models, life cycle assessment, and scenario analyses to present the evolution and environmental impacts of cement manufacturing technologies from 1996 to 2021. We find that novel suspension preheater rotary kilns account for approximately 99% of cement production in China in 2021. Climate change and fossil depletion are identified as the key environmental burdens of cement manufacturing, whereas the reduction in particulate matter emissions appears to be the most prominent benefit of the new technology. By 2021, technology upgrades had led to a mitigation of pollution from cement manufacturing by 25% to 53%. Our findings can help inform credible pathways towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly cement industry. The adoption of more efficient technologies has reduced the environmental impacts associated with cement manufacturing in China during the period 1996–2021, according to a life-cycle assessment based on provincial-level data.

Evaluating the embodied environmental impact of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has been an important topic in addressing the sustainable development of renewable energy. While monetization of environmental externality is a remaining issue, which should be carried out in order to allow for an easy-to-understand comparison between direct economic and external cost. In this study, the environmental impact of solar PV power is monetized through conversion factors between midpoint and endpoint categories of life cycle analysis and the monetization weighting factor. Then, the power generation capacity and generation life of PV and coal-fired power plants are assumed to be consistent in order to compare the total cost of PV and coal-fired power generation. Results show that the cost of PV technology is higher than coal-fired in 2026 to 2030, taking into account environmental external costs and production costs. However, by 2030, the total cost of coal-fired power will be higher than that of solar PV. The life span cost per kWh is $3.55 for solar PV and$116.25 for coal-fired power. Although solar PV power seems more environmentally effective than coal-fired power in the life span, our results reveal the high environmental external cost of producing solar photovoltaic modules, which reminds us to pay more attention to the environmental impact when conducting cost-benefit analysis of renewable technologies. Without incorporating the environmental cost, the real cost of renewable technology will be underestimated.

With the rapid development of the construction industry in China, a large number of building materials have been consumed and resulted in huge pressure to the resources and environment. Based on localized construction material inventory data, China-specific characterization factors in LIME-3 (Life Cycle Impact Assessment based on Endpoint Modeling) was used to evaluate the environmental impact of human health. It is found that ceramic tiles and steel have high burden of human health impact, which are 2.98E-05 DALY and 1.72E-05 DALY, respectively, while gravel and natural sand have relatively low impact, which are 5.12E-08 DALY and 4.30E-09 DALY, respectively. Among the five midpoint impact categories (climate change, air pollution, photochemical oxidant formation, water consumption and human toxicity) that have effects on “human health”, the contribution proportion of different building materials vary significantly. The environmental impact assessment results of different building materials on “human health” under LIME-3 and ReCiPe were compared. Results show that the burden of human health impact for ceramic tile under LIME-3 is nearly 67 times that under ReCiPe, which is mainly due to the different proportion of human toxicity in the endpoint of human health and the difference between the two methods in material characterization factors. For high impact burden materials such as steel and ceramic tiles, impact mitigation strategies have been proposed, such as applying electric arc furnace steel making to improve the productivity of steel and the recycling rate of scrap steel, and promoting new dry powder production processes to reduce alkanes and fluorides emission. This study considered an additional midpoint impact category (human toxicity) based on the LIME-3, directing the impact assessment against indicators located at the end of the impact pathway, such as human health. A database of characterization factors of human toxicity for dozens of substances or components has been constructed. Efforts were made in the direction of developing the application of the most widely used impact assessment methods.