scholarly journals Incorporating External Effects into Project Sustainability Assessments: The Case of a Green Campus Initiative Based on a Solar PV System

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Shue Teah ◽  
Qinyu Yang ◽  
Motoharu Onuki ◽  
Heng Yi Teah

We demonstrated that a green campus initiative can reduce the carbon footprint of a university and improve the disaster resilience of the local community. A project sustainability assessment framework was structured to support the initiative. First, an on-campus solar photovoltaic (PV) system was designed. The project performance in terms of financial cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was assessed using life cycle cost analysis (LCC) and a life cycle assessment (LCA), respectively. Then, we explored the incorporation of positive social impacts on the local community in the context of natural disaster-prone Japan. Indicators for improving the disaster resilience of the residents were defined based on the Sendai Framework. Our results showed that the proposed solar PV system could provide an electricity self-sufficiency rate of 31% for the campus. Greenhouse gas emissions of 0.0811 kg CO2-eq/kWh would decrease the annual emissions from campus electricity use by 27%. Considering the substituted daytime electricity purchase, a payback period of 12.9 years was achievable. This solar PV system could serve as an emergency power source to 4666–8454 nearby residents and 8532 smart city residents. This external effect would encourage stakeholders like local government and developers to participate in the project.

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2346 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mahmud ◽  
Nazmul Huda ◽  
Shahjadi Farjana ◽  
Candace Lang

The demand for clean energy is strong, and the shift from fossil-fuel-based energy to environmentally friendly sources is the next step to eradicating the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solar energy technology has been touted as one of the most promising sources for low-carbon, non-fossil fuel energy production. However, the true potential of solar-based technologies is established by augmenting efficiency through satisfactory environmental performance in relation to other renewable energy systems. This paper presents an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) of a solar-photovoltaic (PV) system and a solar-thermal system. Single crystalline Si solar cells are considered for the solar PV system and an evacuated glass tube collector is considered for the solar thermal system in this analysis. A life-cycle inventory (LCI) is developed considering all inputs and outputs to assess and compare the environmental impacts of both systems for 16 impact indicators. LCA has been performed by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD), Impact 2002+, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), Eco-points 97, Eco-indicator 99 and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, using SimaPro software. The outcomes reveal that a solar-thermal framework provides more than four times release to air ( 100 % ) than the solar-PV ( 23 . 26 % ), and the outputs by a solar-PV system to soil ( 27 . 48 % ) and solid waste ( 35 . 15 % ) are about one third that of solar-thermal. The findings also depict that the solar panels are responsible for the most impact in the considered systems. Moreover, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis has also been carried out for both frameworks, which reveal that Li-ion batteries and copper-indium-selenium (CIS)-solar collectors perform better than others for most of the considered impact categories. This study revealed that a superior environmental performance can be achieved by both systems through careful selection of the components, taking into account the toxicity aspects, and by minimizing the impacts related to the solar panel, battery and heat storage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Mustafizur Rahman ◽  
Chowdhury Sadid Alam ◽  
TM Abir Ahsan

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an extremely useful tool to assess the environmental impacts of a solar photovoltaic system throughout its entire life. This tool can help in making sustainable decisions. A solar PV system does not have any operational emissions as it is free from fossil fuel use during its operation. However, considerable amount of energy is used to manufacture and transport the components (e.g. PV panels, batteries, charge regulator, inverter, supporting structure, etc.) of the PV system. This study aims to perform a comprehensive and independent life cycle assessment of a 3.6 kWp solar photovoltaic system in Bangladesh. The primary energy consumption, resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CH4, N2O, and CO2), and energy payback time (EPBT) were evaluated over the entire life cycle of the photovoltaic system. The batteries and the PV modules are the most GHG intensive components of the system. About 31.90% of the total energy is consumed to manufacture the poly-crystalline PV modules. The total life cycle energy use and resulting GHG emissions were found to be 76.27 MWhth and 0.17 kg-CO2eq/kWh, respectively. This study suggests that 5.34 years will be required to generate the equivalent amount of energy which is consumed over the entire life of the PV system considered. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to see the impact of various input parameters on the life cycle result. The other popular electricity generation systems such as gas generator, diesel generator, wind, and Bangladeshi grid were compared with the PV system. The result shows that electricity generation by solar PV system is much more environmentally friendly than the fossil fuel-based electricity generation. ©2019. CBIORE-IJRED. All rights reserved


2019 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 277-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Yeamin Ali ◽  
Mehadi Hassan ◽  
Md. Atiqur Rahman ◽  
Abdulla-AI Kafy ◽  
Iffat Ara ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishal Asri

Sunlight is energy that can be converted into electrical energy. One of the uses is by applying it to the roof ofthe building. The application in this building has restrictions such as the placement of the PV moduleshorizontally and vertically. In the study comparing the results of energy obtained from the PV system withhorizontal and vertical positions with a standard degree angle in the direction of azimuth sunlight. Positionusing the horizontal produces more energy and reaches a performance ratio of more than 80%.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric O’Shaughnessy ◽  
Dylan Cutler ◽  
Kristen Ardani ◽  
Robert Margolis

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 29449-29457
Author(s):  
Subhash Chandra ◽  
Arvind Yadav ◽  
Mohd Abdul Rahim Khan ◽  
Mukesh Pushkarna ◽  
Mohit Bajaj ◽  
...  

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