scholarly journals Methodology and impact categories of environmental life cycle assessment in geothermal energy sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 00032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Kaczmarczyk

The development of renewable energy sources, including geothermal energy, causes that more and more attention should be devoted to their environmental impact in a holistic approach. Currently, the impact of geothermal installations on the environment is analyzed in the context of emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere at the operational stage. Additionally, sustainable development and creating a responsible energy mix requires the use of tools that will provide precise information about the effectiveness of the proposed technological solutions and their impact on the environment. The LCA lifecycle assessment can be such a tool. The complexity of the investment process, which is the construction of a heating plant, a combined heat and power plant or power plant based on geothermal energy, results mainly from changing geological, topographical and environmental conditions. In such a case, the precise determination of the methodology and the definition of impact categories are crucial. The article is a review of the applied methodologies in the world, taking into account impact categories and databases used in conducting the LCA in the geothermal energy sector.

2020 ◽  
pp. 114-125
Author(s):  
Tetyana DERKACH ◽  
Denys CHEBANENKO

Introduction. The topic of renewable energy today is one of the most relevant and requires consideration from the point of view of all components of this process, namely economic, financial, environmental, technological, and others. The transition to renewable energy is already irreversible today since natural resources are depleted, fuel prices are the subject to significant fluctuations, and the stable growth of the national economy is ensured by energy security. The purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze the volume of global energy consumption, to analyze the impact of the introduction of renewable energy sources on the development of the national economy, to ensure energy security with the depletion of hydrocarbon resources and a slight diversification of their suppliers. Results. Today the Ukrainian economy is the most energy-intensive. Unstable energy prices are a threat both to the global economy and to each country separately. Therefore, in the event of a decrease in the supply of traditional energy resources, the importing countries experience the greatest difficulties. The existing tendency in Ukraine to increase the consumption of traditional energy sources, combined with the absence of a targeted policy aimed at reducing the volume of environmental pollution, will lead to an increase in negative economic consequences. The advantage of renewable energy sources is their equal distribution throughout the country (with the exception of water resources). This feature leads to the formation of one of the main characteristics of power systems based on renewable energy sources, namely, their decentralization. It should be borne in mind that the world energy market is made up of state and non-state participants. Non-state participants are showing an upward trend. However, the state should have the greatest influence on the national energy sector. Renewable energy is an area that, in the Ukrainian context, depends on state support, namely economic and administrative incentives. The dynamics of the development of renewable energy should be combined with the balanced development of the fuel and energy sector in Ukraine. Conclusions. The process of development and transition to renewable energy needs a systematic approach. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are needed to assess the transition to renewable energy. An effective strategy for the transition to the introduction of renewable energy technologies should be justified by economic feasibility. The transition from traditional energy to renewable sources should lead to energy security, which contributes to stable economic growth, political independence, and improving the quality of the environmental component.


Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattias Gaglio ◽  
Elena Tamburini ◽  
Francesco Lucchesi ◽  
Vassilis Aschonitis ◽  
Anna Atti ◽  
...  

The need to reduce the environmental impacts of the food industry is increasing together with the dramatic increment of global food demand. Circulation strategies such as the exploitation of self-produced renewable energy sources can improve ecological performances of industrial processes. However, evidence is needed to demonstrate and characterize such environmental benefits. This study assessed the environmental performances of industrial processing of maize edible oil, whose energy provision is guaranteed by residues biomasses. A gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was applied for a large-size factory of Northern Italy to describe: (i) the environmental impacts related to industrial processing and (ii) the contribution of residue-based bioenergy to their mitigation, through the comparison with a reference system based on conventional energy. The results showed that oil refinement is the most impacting phase for almost all the considered impact categories. The use of residue-based bioenergy was found to drastically reduce the emissions for all the impact categories. Moreover, Cumulative Energy Demand analysis revealed that the use of biomass residues increased energy efficiency through a reduction of the total energy demand of the industrial process. The study demonstrates that the exploitation of residue-based bioenergy can be a sustainable solution to improve environmental performances of the food industry, while supporting circular economy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Rita Bužinskienė

Paper is characterized by scientific novelty as it involves a very scarce research problem in Lithuanian‘s energy sector, assessing the impact of renewable energy resources on the energy economy. Renewable energy sources have a multiplier effect in spurring the economy and the development of not only the energy sector but also all the supporting activities related to such industry. The impact of the development of renewable energy is one of the factors that develop the quality of technology innovation development. This study includes the impact of renewable energy on the energy economy, using multiple linear regression models. The results of the study have shown that renewable energy resources: wind, sun, water, geothermal and biomass can not always be used together because they compete with each other and therefore reduce the efficiency of the energy economy. In this context, three combinations of renewable energy resources have been developed, which have been adapted to assess the impact of the energy economy on energy productivity and energy intensity. It has been found that the combination of resources of the second model (M2) RE is significant for the efficiency of the energy economy.Keywords: Renewable energy resources; Energy economy; Impact of efficiency


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori McPherson ◽  
Siladitya Bhattacharya

Endometriosis is a common condition which affects women in a number of ways and impairs their ability to live a full and meaningful life. Evaluative research has traditionally taken its cue from a medical approach which has forced women to choose one area of functioning as their primary concern, and tended to use a narrow definition of treatment success which ignores general well-being. While recent trials have included quality of life (QOL) measures as outcomes, these have not been able to capture the totality of the impact of the disease and its treatment on a woman's capability to do what she might want to do and be who she might want to be. A capability approach might overcome this barrier, but the available tools will need to be refined and validated in women with endometriosis before this can be integrated within everyday clinical and research practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1200-1213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Iodice ◽  
Massimo Cardone

In the most recent years, renewable sources are becoming increasingly crucial owing to both the stocks of fossil fuels being depleted and environmental problems around the globe. This study describes the environmental assessment of thermal power plant-based trigeneration systems fuelled by renewable energy sources for district heating/cooling system. First, the paper examines the thermal and refrigeration requests of a possible new urban area with electricity, cooling and heating provided by a new trigeneration power system; this study is performed considering a trigeneration plant based on the internal combustion engines fuelled by renewable vegetable oil. Subsequently, a numerical assessment is achieved in order to evaluate the environmental impact on the neighboring area of the trigeneration system. The results of these numerical simulations show that the impact of this power plant on air quality state is not significant in this area. As a result, this kind of trigeneration power system can significantly support the cause of sustainable development and energy efficiency.


2019 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 04022
Author(s):  
O. V. Luskatova ◽  
R. A. Eyvazov ◽  
M. M. Haytanova

The impact of renewable energy sources on the national economy of the countries across the world will only increase in the near future. It is linked both with the policy of reducing the dependence on imported sources and the opportunities offered by alternative power. Having great prospects for using renewable energy sources in power generation, Turkey has been implementing coherent policy in this field. The article deals with the energy policy Republic of Turkey, analyzes its legislation, studies the trends in the alternative energy sector development as well as the current situation in the domestic power generation.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Zhengguang Liu ◽  
Gaoyang Hou ◽  
Ying Song ◽  
Hessam Taherian ◽  
Shuaiwei Qi

Geothermal power plants have become the main application that utilizes geothermal energy. The utilization of deep geothermal energy adheres great importance to the soil condition. One of the biggest challenges faced by geothermal power plant designers is to reduce the risk of soil exploration. To solve this problem, forecasting by modeling has proven to be an important tool to address the problem. In this research, a geo-model was established by modeling three geological layers with different hydraulic and thermal properties to solve the above dilemma. The layers, elevation, and fault zones were simulated using interpolation functions from an artificial dataset. The coupled porous media flow and heat transfer problem using Darcy’s law, as well as heat transfer in porous media interfaces, were studied. The evolution of the flow field, hydrothermal performance, and temperature gradient were also analyzed for a period of 10 years. The results showed the recoverable thermal energy area gradually moved downwards during the 10-year simulation time. When the distance between the recharge well and the production well exceeded 200 m, the collection efficiency was significantly decreased. After 5 years of extraction, the power generation efficiency of the heat source will be less than 9.75%. These results effectively avoided the exploration cost of geothermal power plant site selection, which is significant for the efficiency improvement of geothermal energy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Wasiuta

Abstract BackgroundThe characteristic feature of modern energy sector in the EU is the development of environmentally friendly technologies based on renewable energy sources (RES). The use of alternative and RES contributes to resolving not only energy efficiency issues, but many of the environmental, economic and social problems. RES are also one of the priorities of the world's low carbon policy and reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Growing electrical energy consumption and increasing integration of RES in power systems have led to new challenges, thus it is required to investigate and properly analyze the impact of integrated RES on the power system as a substitute for fossil fuel resources.ResultsThe aim of the article is to show the possibilities of developing RES in Poland in the context of environmental protection, energy self-sufficiency and international obligations. The depletion of primary energy sources and the increase in emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere forces undertaking certain activities, aimed at seeking substitutes for fossil fuels. According to the author’s analysis, RES are the best and safest substitutes for traditional energy resources such as fossil fuel.ConclusionsThe author examines electricity production mix in EU counties and compares it to Polish energy sector. Taking into consideration the transmission network density in Poland, while energy sector changes its structure and expands, the mix of technologies deployed to produce electricity determines the associated burden on transmission networks. Polish energy sector development in the context of modernization of transmission grid provides an opportunity for investors to prepare the energy system for increasing the share of renewable energy sources. In the process of implementing the appropriate solution, the experiences of other countries that have significantly increased the share of renewable energy in the past could be used. This article presents the main areas of action that may facilitate the further integration of different energy sources in the specific context of Poland's changing energy system. Not all integration options will be important for Poland at the same time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1760
Author(s):  
Estanislao Pujades ◽  
Angelique Poulain ◽  
Philippe Orban ◽  
Pascal Goderniaux ◽  
Alain Dassargues

Underground pumped storage hydropower (UPSH) is an attractive opportunity to manage the production of electricity from renewable energy sources in flat regions, which will contribute to the expansion of their use and, thus, to mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in the atmosphere. A logical option to construct future UPSH plants consists of taking advantage of existing underground cavities excavated with mining purposes. However, mines are not waterproofed, and there will be an underground water exchange between the surrounding geological medium and the UPSH plants, which can impact their efficiency and the quality of nearby water bodies. Underground water exchanges depend on hydrogeological features, such as the hydrogeological properties and the groundwater characteristics and behavior. In this paper, we numerically investigated how the hydraulic conductivity (K) of the surrounding underground medium and the elevation of the piezometric head determined the underground water exchanges and their associated consequences. The results indicated that the efficiency and environmental impacts on surface water bodies became worse in transmissive geological media with a high elevation of the piezometric head. However, the expected environmental impacts on the underground medium increased as the piezometric head became deeper. This assessment complements previous ones developed in the same field and contributes to the definition of (1) screening strategies for selecting the best places to construct future UPSH plants and (2) design criteria to improve their efficiency and minimize their impacts.


2022 ◽  
Vol 1211 (1) ◽  
pp. 012011
Author(s):  
A G Vaskov ◽  
N Y Mozder ◽  
A F Narynbaev

Abstract The article highlights the problems of distributed energy generation and focuses on solar-diesel hybrid power plant modelling and optimization. Designing power systems based on renewable energy sources includes a very relevant task of building mathematical models of such systems and their elements. The article presents an approach and definition of mathematical models describing photovoltaic-diesel (PV-D) hybrid power system elements used in decision making processes as a part of PV-D operation control. An overview of PV module output power, performance and temperature models is given. Along with the analysis of the specific fuel consumption dependencies on the operating power of the diesel generator, an example of diesel power plant unit commitment is shown.


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