A benchmark for life cycle air emissions and life cycle impact assessment of hydrokinetic energy extraction using life cycle assessment

Miller, Veronica B.; Landis, Amy E.; Schaefer, Laura

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2010.08.016

Cited by 30 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The hydropower chapter in SRREN presents a detailed discussion of mechanisms for biogenic emissions, but the emissions rates were provided per reservoir area, not referred to the electricity generated. The IPCC’s review of hydropower LCAs identified 27 estimates of life-cycle GHG emissions from 11 distinct references, including refs − . Sixteen estimates from seven references include bGHG emissions, and only three estimates from two references include emissions from the decommissioning phase .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydropower in LCA

Hertwich¹

2013

Environ. Sci. Technol.

158

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The ability of hydropower to contribute to climate change mitigation is sometimes questioned, citing emissions of methane and carbon dioxide resulting from the degradation of biogenic carbon in hydropower reservoirs. These emissions are, however, not always addressed in life cycle assessment, leading to a bias in technology comparisons, and often misunderstood. The objective of this paper is to review and analyze the generation of greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs for the purpose of technology assessment, relating established emission measurements to power generation. A literature review, data collection, and statistical analysis of methane and CO2 emissions are conducted. In a sample of 82 measurements, methane emissions per kWh hydropower generated are log-normally distributed, ranging from micrograms to 10s of kg. A multivariate regression analysis shows that the reservoir area per kWh electricity is the most important explanatory variable. Methane emissions flux per reservoir area are correlated with the natural net primary production of the area, the age of the power plant, and the inclusion of bubbling emissions in the measurement. Even together, these factors fail to explain most of the variation in the methane flux. The global average emissions from hydropower are estimated to be 85 gCO2/kWh and 3 gCH4/kWh, with a multiplicative uncertainty factor of 2. GHG emissions from hydropower can be largely avoided by ceasing to build hydropower plants with high land use per unit of electricity generated.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydropower in LCA

Hertwich¹

2013

Environ. Sci. Technol.

158

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“…In several publications, the technical features and performance of the hydrokinetic turbines are described [6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In this work, the 2 most common arrangement of small-scale hydrokinetic turbines are treated, where they are classified according to the turbine types and axis alignment of rotor with respect to the water flow (see Table 1 and Fig.…”

Section: Technological and Social Aspects Of The Hydrokinetic Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of riverine hydrokinetic energy systems in Colombia and other world regions: a review of case studies

Quiceno

Aristizabal

Pérez

et al. 2021

DYNA

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At a global level, hydrokinetic power has been considered as a renewable energy source, and it has become an attractive alternative for the rural electrification of non-interconnected areas with the presence of water resources. Aspects such as the low rural electrification rate, the increase in energy demand, the decrease in fossil reserves and the climate change, are some of the factors that have driven the use of this technology for the electricity production. The aim of this work is to give a review of the hydrokinetic energy potential of water resources, the requirements and impacts of the implementation of hydrokinetic technology in different countries, and the current development in the Colombian case. At present, it can be observed that the implementation of this technology in different regions of the world, especially in Colombia, has several challenges and barriers, including gaps in knowledge, information and data, such as well as limitations of water resources and infrastructure, finally, impacting on a low adoption of this technology. On the other hand, publications on studies of implementation and potential of hydrokinetic technology have been increasing over time, indicating that this topic has been gaining interest despite the challenges.

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“…Life cycle assessment generally consists of four processes [47]: (1) determination of research goals and scope; (2) making up life cycle inventory; (3) calculating life cycle impact assessment value; (4) achieving life cycle interpretation and corresponding improvement, and former three steps are discussed in detail coupled with distributed renewable energy system within ReCiPe2016 as following paragraphs.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment In the Proposed Evaluation Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Impact Evaluation of Distributed Renewable Energy System Based on Life Cycle Assessment and Fuzzy Rough Sets

Wang

Zhang³

et al. 2019

Energies

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The distributed renewable energy system, integrating various renewable energy resources, is a significant energy supply technology within energy internet. It is an effective way to meet increasingly growing demand for energy conservation and environmental damage reduction in energy generation and energy utilization. In this paper, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method and fuzzy rough sets (FRS) theory are combined to build an environmental evaluation model for a distributed renewable energy system. The ReCiPe2016 method is selected to calculate the environmental effect scores of the distributed energy system, and the FRS is utilized to identify the crucial activities and exchanges during its life cycle from cradle to grave. The generalized evaluation method is applied to a real-world case study, a typical distributed energy system located in Yanqing District, Beijing, China, which is composed of wind power, small-scale hydropower, photovoltaic, centralized solar thermal power plant and a biogas power plant. The results show that the environmental effect of per kWh power derived from the distributed renewable energy system is 2.06 × 10−3 species disappeared per year, 9.88 × 10−3 disability-adjusted life years, and 1.75 × 10−3 USD loss on fossil resources extraction, and further in the uncertainty analysis, it is found that the environmental load can be reduced effectively and efficiently by improving life span and annual utilization hour of power generation technologies and technology upgrade for wind turbine and photovoltaic plants. The results show that the proposed evaluation method could fast evaluate the environmental effects of a distributed energy system while the uncertainty analysis with FRS successfully and effectively identifies the key element and link among its life span.

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A benchmark for life cycle air emissions and life cycle impact assessment of hydrokinetic energy extraction using life cycle assessment

Cited by 30 publications

References 20 publications

Addressing Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydropower in LCA

Addressing Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydropower in LCA

Development of riverine hydrokinetic energy systems in Colombia and other world regions: a review of case studies

Environmental Impact Evaluation of Distributed Renewable Energy System Based on Life Cycle Assessment and Fuzzy Rough Sets

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