Resource depletion impact assessment: Impacts of a natural gas scarcity in Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Rimos ◽  
Andrew F.A. Hoadley ◽  
David J. Brennan
Author(s):  
Milagros Alvarez-Huamani ◽  
Joshelyn Paredes-Zavala ◽  
Gonzalo Davila-del-Carpio

The Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was used to assess the impact of biomethane plant of the “La Católica” in Pedregal-Majes-Arequipa farm, fed with cow manure and holding a production of 60 Nm3/day of purified biogas. Life cycle inventory, impact assessment and interpretation were performed. The functional unit established was 1 MJ of energy produced; the study was modeled with SimaPro software, Ecoinvent Database and ReCiPe Midpoint (H) impact assessment methodology, according to the impact categories of climate change and fossil resource depletion. The impact analysis was limited to the Well to Tank (WTT) approach, which involves feedstock transport, substrate mixed, anaerobic digestion, biogas purification, storage and injection of the fuel into transport vehicles. The digestion process generated the highest amount of CO2 emissions (1.79E-02 kg CO2 eq/MJ-biomethane) and the highest depletion of fossil resources (6.58E-03 kg oil eq/MJ-biomethane), compared to the other fuel production, due to energy consumption and transport infrastructure. Biomethane was then compared to fossil fuels, resulting in natural gas generating the least amount of CO2 emissions, followed by diesel and finally biomethane. For the fossil resource depletion category, biomethane presented the lowest amount of fossil fuel consumption (1.37E-02 kg oil eq/MJ-biomethane), followed by natural gas and diesel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Sergejus Lebedevas ◽  
Lukas Norkevičius ◽  
Peilin Zhou

Decarbonization of ship power plants and reduction of harmful emissions has become a priority in the technological development of maritime transport, including ships operating in seaports. Engines fueled by diesel without using secondary emission reduction technologies cannot meet MARPOL 73/78 Tier III regulations. The MEPC.203 (62) EEDI directive of the IMO also stipulates a standard for CO2 emissions. This study presents the results of research on ecological parameters when a CAT 3516C diesel engine is replaced by a dual-fuel (diesel-liquefied natural gas) powered Wartsila 9L20DF engine on an existing seaport tugboat. CO2, SO2 and NOx emission reductions were estimated using data from the actual engine load cycle, the fuel consumption of the KLASCO-3 tugboat, and engine-prototype experimental data. Emission analysis was performed to verify the efficiency of the dual-fuel engine in reducing CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions of seaport tugboats. The study found that replacing a diesel engine with a dual-fuel-powered engine led to a reduction in annual emissions of 10% for CO2, 91% for SO2, and 65% for NOx. Based on today’s fuel price market data an economic impact assessment was conducted based on the estimated annual fuel consumption of the existing KLASCO-3 seaport tugboat when a diesel-powered engine is replaced by a dual-fuel (diesel-natural gas)-powered engine. The study showed that a 33% fuel costs savings can be achieved each year. Based on the approved methodology, an ecological impact assessment was conducted for the entire fleet of tugboats operating in the Baltic Sea ports if the fuel type was changed from diesel to natural gas. The results of the assessment showed that replacing diesel fuel with natural gas achieved 78% environmental impact in terms of NOx emissions according to MARPOL 73/78 Tier III regulations. The research concludes that new-generation engines on the market powered by environmentally friendly fuels such as LNG can modernise a large number of existing seaport tugboats, significantly reducing their emissions in ECA regions such as the Baltic Sea.


Author(s):  
Manish Sakhlecha ◽  
Samir Bajpai ◽  
Rajesh Kumar Singh

Buildings consume major amount of energy as well as natural resources leading to negative environmental impacts like resource depletion and pollution. The current task for the construction sector is to develop an evaluation tool for rating of buildings based on their environmental impacts. There are various assessment tools and models developed by different agencies in different countries to evaluate building's effect on environment. Although these tools have been successfully used and implemented in the respective regions of their origin, the problems of application occur, especially during regional adaptation in other countries due to peculiarities associated with the specific geographic location, climatic conditions, construction methods and materials. India is a rapidly growing economy with exponential increase in housing sector. Impact assessment model for a residential building has been developed based on life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. The life cycle impact assessment score was obtained for a sample house considering fifteen combinations of materials paired with 100% thermal electricity and 70%-30% thermal-solar combination, applying normalization and weighting to the LCA results. The LCA score of portland slag cement with burnt clay red brick and 70%-30% thermal-solar combination (PSC+TS+RB) was found to have the best score and ordinary Portland cement with flyash brick and 100% thermal power (OPC+T+FAB) had the worst score, showing the scope for further improvement in LCA model to include positive scores for substitution of natural resources with industrial waste otherwise polluting the environment.


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