Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies

Description

Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies provides state-of-the-art coverage in both non-fossil energy conversion and storage techniques, as well as in their environmental assessment. This includes goal and scope, analysis boundaries,  inventory and the impact assessment employed for the evaluation of these applications, as well as the environmental footprint of the technologies. The book compiles information currently available only in different sources concerning the environmental assessment of sustainable energy technologies, allowing for the comparative assessments of different technologies given specific boundary conditions, such as renewable potential and other specific features of discussed technologies. It offers readers a comprehensive overview of the entire energy supply chain, namely from production to storage, by allowing the consideration of different production and storage combinations, based on their environmental assessment. Front Cover Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies Copyright Page Contents List of contributors About the editors Section A 1 Introduction: environmental assessment of renewable energy and storage technologies: current status References Section B 2 Life cycle analysis of photovoltaic systems: a review 2.1 Introduction: European Union roadmap for energy and carbon emissions 2.2 PV system description 2.3 The methodology: life cycle analysis 2.4 Inventory analysis 2.5 Impact assessment 2.6 Conclusions—further research Nomenclature References 3 Life cycle assessment review in solar thermal systems 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Building-integrated solar thermal collectors 3.2.1 Flat plate solar thermal collectors 3.2.2 Evacuated tube solar thermal collectors 3.3 Building-added solar thermal systems 3.3.1 Flat plate solar thermal collectors 3.4 Evacuated tube solar thermal collectors 3.5 Conclusions Nomenclature References 4 Environmental assessment of wind turbines and wind energy 4.1 Introduction 4.2 State-of-the-art on wind turbines and wind energy 4.3 Life cycle inventory of wind turbines and wind energy 4.4 Life cycle assessment of wind turbines and wind energy 4.4.1 Key parameters in the implementation of life cycle assessment studies 4.4.2 Significant findings from previous life cycle assessment studies 4.5 Critical review on the environmental assessment of wind turbines and wind energy 4.5.1 Shared challenges related to life cycle assessment 4.5.2 Technology-specific challenges related to life cycle assessment References 5 Environmental assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes through a life cycle perspective 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Life cycle assessment of biomass conversion routes 5.2.1 Goal and scope definition 5.2.1.1 Functional unit 5.2.1.2 Boundaries 5.2.2 Life cycle inventory 5.2.3 Life cycle impact assessment 5.2.4 Interpretation of results 5.3 Life cycle assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes 5.3.1 Conversion of biomass to biofuels through pyrolysis 5.3.2 Conversion of biomass to syngas via gasification 5.3.3 Overview of selected studies 5.3.3.1 Feedstock 5.3.3.2 Intended application of end product 5.3.3.3 Scope of the selected studies 5.3.3.4 Multifunctionality 5.3.3.5 Life cycle impact assessment methods 5.4 Issues affecting the comparability of life cycle assessment studies 5.4.1 Key performance indicators 5.4.1.1 Key performances indicators and life cycle assessment of biomass thermochemical conversion routes 5.4.2 Product environmental footprint assessment 5.5 Conclusions References Further reading 6 Environmental assessment of biomass to biofuels: biochemical conversion routes 6.1 Introduction 6.2 State-of-the-art of the production technologies 6.2.1 Fermentation 6.2.2 Anaerobic digestion 6.3 Calculation of environmental impacts via life cycle assessment 6.3.1 Definition of the goal and scope 6.3.2 Life cycle inventory analysis 6.3.3 Life cycle impact assessment 6.3.4 Interpretation 6.4 Key performance indicators for life cycle assessment 6.4.1 Fermentation 6.4.2 Anaerobic digestion 6.5 Product environmental footprint 6.6 Conclusions Acknowledgements References 7 Environmental assessment of biomass-to-biofuels mechanical conversion routes (pelleting, briquetting) 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Pelleting and briquetting 7.2.1 Pelleting/briquetting feed biomass 7.2.2 Pellets/briquettes classification 7.2.3 Process description 7.3 Life cycle assessment 7.3.1 General life cycle assessment framework 7.3.1.1 Goal and scope definition 7.3.1.2 Life cycle inventory 7.3.1.3 Life cycle impact assessment 7.3.1.4 Interpretation of results 7.3.2 Life cycle assessment components in biomass densification systems 7.3.2.1 System boundaries 7.3.2.2 Functional unit 7.3.2.3 Energy inputs in densification plant subprocesses 7.3.3 Previous work on life cycle assessment of biomass densification systems 7.3.3.1 Life cycle assessment of woody pellets/briquettes 7.3.3.2 Life cycle assessment of nonwoody pellets/briquettes 7.3.3.3 Life cycle assessment of combined densification and torrefaction systems 7.4 Conclusions References 8 Life cycle assessment of geothermal power technologies 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Technologies for power generation 8.2.1 Dry-steam technology 8.2.2 Single-flash technology 8.2.3 Multistage flash technologies 8.2.4 Binary cycle technology 8.2.5 Enhanced geothermal systems 8.3 Life cycle assessment: methodological aspects 8.3.1 Goal and scope definition 8.3.1.1 Goal 8.3.1.2 Functional unit 8.3.1.3 System boundaries 8.3.2 Life cycle inventory: key aspects and parameters 8.3.2.1 Geothermal resource 8.3.2.2 Power generation technology 8.3.3 Life cycle inventory: core module phases and activities 8.3.3.1 Construction phase 8.3.3.2 Operational phase 8.3.3.3 Maintenance phase 8.3.3.4 End-of-life phase 8.3.4 Life cycle inventory: handling multifunctional processes 8.3.5 Life cycle impact assessment 8.3.6 Life cycle interpretation: reporting LCA results 8.4 Case studies 8.4.1 Hot-spot analysis 8.4.2 Comparative analysis 8.4.2.1 Carbon footprint 8.4.2.2 Multiple environmental categories Acknowledgments References Section C 9 Environmental impact assessment of hydropower stations 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Materials and methods 9.3 Results and discussion 9.3.1 Environmental profiles of the hydropower plants 9.3.2 Metal- and gas-based emission evaluation 9.3.3 Greenhouse-gas emission estimation 9.3.4 Uncertainty analysis 9.4 Conclusion References 10 A stakeholder impact analysis of the production of the energy vector hydrogen 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Methodological framework and background 10.3 Data—social hotspot database 10.4 Hydrogen production simplified process chain—system boundaries of the hydrogen process chain 10.5 Results—social risks of the stakeholders 10.6 Conclusion References 11 Environmental impact assessments of compressed air energy storage systems: a review 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Life cycle assessment 11.3 State-of-the-art compressed air energy storage technologies 11.3.1 Conventional compressed air energy storage 11.3.2 Adiabatic compressed air energy storage 11.3.3 Liquid air energy storage 11.4 Life cycle assessment of compressed air energy storage systems 11.4.1 Overview of life cycle assessment studies on compressed air energy storage systems 11.4.2 Discussion on how life cycle assessment is used in compressed air energy storage studies 11.4.2.1 Goal and scope definition 11.4.2.2 Life cycle inventory analysis 11.4.2.3 Life cycle impact assessment 11.4.2.4 Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses 11.5 Comparison of energy storage technologies 11.5.1 Greenhouse gas emissions 11.5.2 Land footprint 11.6 Conclusions and recommendations Acknowledgments References 12 Environmental impact assessment of battery storage 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Battery storage markets and production overview 12.3 Methodology 12.4 Results 12.4.1 Impacts of Li-ion batteries 12.4.2 Impacts of NiMH batteries 12.4.3 Impacts of NaCl batteries 12.5 Discussion 12.5.1 Impact outcome comparison 12.6 Limitations 12.7 Conclusion Nomenclature References Section D 13 Environmental assessment of renewable energy and storage technologies: future challenges Index Back Cover