Life cycle assessment of organic photovoltaic charger use in Europe: the role of product use intensity and irradiation

Glogic, Edis; Weyand, Steffi; Tsang, Michael; Young, Steven B.; Schebek, Liselotte; Sonnemann, Guido

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.155

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Due to the change in intended application, other benchmarks for technology development and comparisons of the environmental performance need to be considered for these devices. As a first example, in [64] an LCA of a mobile charger with an integrated OPV cell was performed and the environmental performance in comparison with substituted electricity from the grid as a benchmark was analyzed. Obviously, for such novel applications, behavioral aspects in the use phase, as well as different requirements for the end-of-life management, might substantially influence environmental performance in the life cycle [64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a first example, in [64] an LCA of a mobile charger with an integrated OPV cell was performed and the environmental performance in comparison with substituted electricity from the grid as a benchmark was analyzed. Obviously, for such novel applications, behavioral aspects in the use phase, as well as different requirements for the end-of-life management, might substantially influence environmental performance in the life cycle [64]. Thus, for a comprehensive picture of future environmental performance of emerging technologies, not only the technology itself but also emerging applications of technologies should be considered in LCA studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Assessment of the Status Quo and Future Prospects Based on a Meta-Analysis of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies

2019

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Emerging photovoltaic technologies are expected to have lower environmental impacts during their life cycle due to their extremely thin-film technology and resulting material savings. The environmental impacts of four emerging photovoltaics were investigated based on a meta-analysis of life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies, comprising a systematic review and harmonization approach of five key indicators to describe the environmental status quo and future prospects. The status quo was analyzed based on a material-related functional unit of 1 watt-peak of the photovoltaic cell. For future prospects, the functional unit of 1 kWh of generated electricity was used, including assumptions on the use phase, notably on the lifetime. The results of the status quo show that organic photovoltaic technology is the most mature emerging photovoltaic technology with a competitive environmental performance, while perovskites have a low performance, attributed to the early stage of development and inefficient manufacturing on the laboratory scale. The results of future prospects identified improvements of efficiency, lifetime, and manufacturing with regard to environmental performance based on sensitivity and scenario analyses. The developed harmonization approach supports the use of LCA in the early stages of technology development in a structured way to reduce uncertainty and extract significant information during development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Assessment of the Status Quo and Future Prospects Based on a Meta-Analysis of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies

2019

Self Cite

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“…These cover different product systems such as fuel cell bus, hydrogen, electric vehicles (not to be used for vehicle-to-grid applications), heat, fossil fuels. term timeframe, there were 56 papers, accounting for 55% of the reviewed case studies, ranging from 3 to 21 years of cycle crop or lifecycle of the product system [32][33][34][35][36] to 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. The studied timeframe ranged up to 200 years of forecasting scenarios, with product system of a 6 MW bio heat plant in UK [37].…”

Section: Application Of Clca In the Energy Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The short timeframe is every 30 min, hourly or monthly, and this was applied in 5 studies [19,[28][29][30][31] which were recently conducted on power/heat generation systems. For medium to long term timeframe, there were 56 papers, accounting for 55% of the reviewed case studies, ranging from 3 to 21 years of cycle crop or lifecycle of the product system [32][33][34][35][36] to 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. The studied timeframe ranged up to 200 years of forecasting scenarios, with product system of a 6 MW bio heat plant in UK [37].…”

Section: Application Of Clca In the Energy Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

A Conceptual Review on Using Consequential Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the Energy Sector

et al. 2020

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Energy is engaged in the supply chain of many economic sectors; therefore, the environmental impacts of the energy sector are indirectly linked to those of other sectors. Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) is an appropriate methodology to examine the direct and indirect environmental impacts of a product due to technological, economic or social changes. To date, different methodological approaches are proposed, combining economic and environmental models. This paper reviews the basic concept of CLCA and the coupling of economic and environmental models for performing CLCA in the energy sector during the period 2006–2020, with the aim to provide a description of the different tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations. From the review, it emerges that economic modelling tools are frequently used in combination with environmental data for CLCA in the energy sector, including equilibrium, input-output, and dynamic models. Out of these, the equilibrium model is the most widely used, showing some strengths in availability of data and energy system modelling tools. The input-output model allows for describing both direct and indirect effects due to changes in the energy sector, by using publicly available data. The dynamic model is less frequently applied due to its limitation in availability of data and modelling tools, but has recently attracted more attention due to the ability in modelling quantitative and qualitative indicators of sustainability.

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“…Furthermore, recent studies reported power conversion efficiencies of ca 14% in single solar cells and ca 17% in tandem ones [2]. Besides these advantages and the growing interest, also, in the field of mobile phone charges [3], these devices still suffer for the limit of being realized using materials that are considered toxic and hazardous in the recent vision of a sustainable economy based on solar energy. In fact, they usually employ inorganic semiconductor quantum dots, which contain heavy metals, small organic molecules that need hazardous solvents to be processed, or dye-sensitizers that are based on molecular complexes containing heavy metals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Carbon Quantum Dots in Organic Photovoltaics: A Short Overview

Vercelli

2021

Coatings

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Carbon quantum dots (CDs) are a new class of fluorescent carbonaceous nanomaterials that were casually discovered in 2004. Since then, they have become object of great interest in the scientific community because of their peculiar optical properties (e.g., size-dependent and excitation wavelength-dependent fluorescence), which make them very similar to the well-known semiconductor quantum dots and suitable for application in photovoltaic devices (PVs). In fact, with appropriate structural engineering, it is possible to modulate CDs photoluminescence properties, band gap, and energy levels in order to realize the band matching suitable to enable the desired directional flow of charge carriers within the PV device architecture in which they are implanted. Considering the latest developments, in the present short review, the employment of CDs in organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) will be summarized, in order to study the role played by these nanomaterials in the improvement of the performances of the devices. After a first brief summary of the strategies of structural engineering of CDs and the effects on their optical properties, the attention will be devoted to the recent highlights of CDs application in organic solar cells (OSCs) and in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), in order to guide the users towards the full exploitation of the use of these nanomaterials in such OPV devices.

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Life cycle assessment of organic photovoltaic charger use in Europe: the role of product use intensity and irradiation

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Environmental Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Assessment of the Status Quo and Future Prospects Based on a Meta-Analysis of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies

Environmental Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Assessment of the Status Quo and Future Prospects Based on a Meta-Analysis of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies

A Conceptual Review on Using Consequential Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the Energy Sector

The Role of Carbon Quantum Dots in Organic Photovoltaics: A Short Overview

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