Carbon footprint and cumulative energy demand of greenhouse and open-field tomato cultivation systems under Southern and Central European climatic conditions

Cooking is one of the most important final household uses of energy. In Ecuador, the main energy carrier for this use is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which normally is supplied in bottles. LPG is imported and heavily subsidized for household consumption. The Government has promoted the use of electric induction stoves provided the hydropower generation capacity in Ecuador is projected to grow. Sustainability issues should be considered when changes in energy systems are analyzed. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodological framework that can be used to quantify the environmental performance of any product or service, including energy systems. LCA can be used to quantify a range of environmental impact categories including Climate Change. The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of a product or service are also known as carbon footprint. The objective of this study is to quantify the change in the carbon footprint of the household cooking system from the current based on LPG to the proposed based on electricity, and the cumulative energy demand (CED) for cooking with both technologies, using the LCA methodology, in order to provide a basis for the development of policies to reach the maximum mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG). Several scenarios that consider different electricity generation mixes, cooking efficiency and emissions profile are studied. The functional unit for comparison was defined as “1 effective MJ”, which is 1 MJ transferred to the food during cooking. System boundaries for the assessment included resources extraction, processing, energy carrier supply, cooking and manufacturing of the stove. The results depend highly on the carbon footprint of the electricity system and, in a lesser extent, on the stove efficiency. Main results indicate that a carbon footprint mitigation occurs when changing the conventional LPG to a highly hydropower based cooking system, and that a higher life cycle energy efficiency is obtained when a high stove efficiency is considered. However, a greater carbon footprint may occur when cooking is performed using fossil derived power, which is a possible case when cooking is performed during peak demand of electricity.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Bioplastics and Food Waste Disposal Methods

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126894 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6894

Author(s):

Shakira R. Hobbs ◽

Tyler M. Harris ◽

William J. Barr ◽

Amy E. Landis

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Waste Management ◽

Food Waste ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Anaerobic Digester ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Cumulative Energy ◽

Cumulative Energy Demand

The environmental impacts of five waste management scenarios for polylactic acid (PLA)-based bioplastics and food waste were quantified using life cycle assessment. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the potential for a pretreatment process to accelerate the degradation of bioplastics and were modeled in two of the five scenarios assessed. The five scenarios analyzed in this study were: (1a) Anaerobic digestion (1b) Anaerobic digestion with pretreatment; (2a) Compost; (2a) Compost with pretreatment; (3) Landfill. Results suggested that food waste and pretreated bioplastics disposed of with an anaerobic digester offers life cycle and environmental net total benefits (environmental advantages/offsets) in several areas: ecotoxicity (−81.38 CTUe), eutrophication (0 kg N eq), cumulative energy demand (−1.79 MJ), global warming potential (0.19 kg CO2), and human health non-carcinogenic (−2.52 CTuh). Normalized results across all impact categories show that anaerobically digesting food waste and bioplastics offer the most offsets for ecotoxicity, eutrophication, cumulative energy demand and non-carcinogenic. Implications from this study can lead to nutrient and energy recovery from an anaerobic digester that can diversify the types of fertilizers and decrease landfill waste while decreasing dependency on non-renewable technologies. Thus, using anaerobic digestion to manage bioplastics and food waste should be further explored as a viable and sustainable solution for waste management.

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Application of Life-cycle Assessment for the Study of Carbon and Water Footprints of the 16.5 MWe Wind Farm in Villonaco, Loja – Ecuador

10.20944/preprints202110.0399.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alberto Tama Franco

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Wind Farm ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Electric Energy ◽

Electricity Production ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Cumulative Energy ◽

Cumulative Energy Demand

Wind technology is considered to be among the most promising types of renewable energy sources, and due to high oil prices and growing concerns about climate change and energy security, it has been the subject of extensive considerations in recent years, including questions related to the relative sustainability of electricity production when the manufacturing, assembly, transportation and dismantling processes of these facilities are taken into account. The present article evaluates the environmental impacts, carbon emissions and water consumption, derived from the production of electric energy of the Villonaco wind farm, located in Loja-Ecuador, during its entire life cycle, using the Life Cycle Analysis method. Finally, it is concluded that wind energy has greater environmental advantages, since it has lower values of carbon and water footprints than other energy sources. Additionally, with the techniques Cumulative Energy Demand and Energy Return on Investment, sustainability in the production of electricity from wind power in Ecuador is demonstrated; and, that due to issues of vulnerability to climate change, the diversification of its energy mix is essential considering the inclusion of non-conventional renewable sources such as solar or wind, this being the only way to reduce both the carbon footprint and the water supply power.

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Cumulative Energy Demand of Wind Energy and Solar Water Heating Systems

1999 ISES Solar World Congress ◽

10.1016/b978-008043895-5/50140-5 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 345-350

Author(s):

Herman-Josef Wagner ◽

Dirk Gürzenich ◽

Erich Pick

Keyword(s):

Wind Energy ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Water Heating ◽

Cumulative Energy ◽

Cumulative Energy Demand ◽

Heating Systems ◽

Solar Water Heating ◽

Solar Water

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Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Productivity and Raw Material Quality from Organic Cultivation

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy9060279 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 279 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Katarzyna Bączek ◽

Olga Kosakowska ◽

Małgorzata Gniewosz ◽

Iwona Gientka ◽

Zenon Węglarz

Keyword(s):

Essential Oil ◽

Open Field ◽

Microbiological Quality ◽

Farming System ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Raw Material ◽

Conventional Agriculture ◽

Central European ◽

Sweet Basil ◽

Organic Cultivation

Sweet basil is one of the most important culinary herbs. Currently, its production is carried out mainly in accordance with conventional agriculture. However, its cultivation in organic systems seems to be better adjusted to consumer demands connected with the lack of pesticide residues in foods and their safety. In the present study, two methods of basil cultivation in organic farming system were applied, i.e., in the open air and under foil tunnels. During the experiment, in central European climatic conditions, it was possible to obtain four successive cuts of herb. The herb was subjected to chemical analysis, including determination of the content of essential oil, phenolic compounds, and chlorophylls. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and flame ionization detector (GC-FID) analysis of the essential oil was performed, whereas the fresh herb was subjected to sensory analysis. The cumulative mass of fresh herb was distinctly higher in the cultivation under foil tunnels (44.7 kg∙10 m−2) in comparison to the open field (24.7 kg∙10 m−2). The content of essential oil, flavonoids, and phenolic acids was also higher in the raw material collected from plants grown under foil tunnels (0.81, 0.36, and 0.78 g·100g−1 DW, respectively) than from the open field (0.48, 0.29, and 0.59g·100g−1 DW, respectively). In turn, the dominant compound of the essential oil, i.e., linalool, was present in higher amounts in the essential oil obtained from plants cultivated in the open field. The sensory and microbiological quality of herb was comparable for both methods of cultivation. The obtained results indicate that, in central European climatic conditions, it is possible to obtain good-quality yield of basil herb. However, for its better productivity, it seems that cultivation under foil tunnels is preferable.

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Review on Life Cycle Assessment of Solar Photovoltaic Panels

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13010252 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 252 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Vincenzo Muteri ◽

Maurizio Cellura ◽

Domenico Curto ◽

Vincenzo Franzitta ◽

Sonia Longo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Laboratory Research ◽

Cumulative Energy ◽

Cumulative Energy Demand ◽

Environmental Indices ◽

Silicon Based

The photovoltaic (PV) sector has undergone both major expansion and evolution over the last decades, and currently, the technologies already marketed or still in the laboratory/research phase are numerous and very different. Likewise, in order to assess the energy and environmental impacts of these devices, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies related to these systems are always increasing. The objective of this paper is to summarize and update the current literature of LCA applied to different types of grid-connected PV, as well as to critically analyze the results related to energy and environmental impacts generated during the life cycle of PV technologies, from 1st generation (traditional silicon based) up to the third generation (innovative non-silicon based). Most of the results regarded energy indices like energy payback time, cumulative energy demand, and primary energy demand, while environmental indices were variable based on different scopes and impact assessment methods. Moreover, the review work allowed to highlight and compare key parameters (PV type and system, geographical location, efficiency), methodological insights (functional unit, system boundaries, etc.), and energy/environmental hotspots of 39 LCA studies relating to different PV systems, in order to underline the importance of these aspects, and to provide information and a basis of comparison for future analyses.

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