scholarly journals Life Cycle Analysis of Disposed and Recycled End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels in Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 11025
Author(s):  
Jasleen Kaur Daljit Singh ◽  
Georgina Molinari ◽  
Jonathan Bui ◽  
Behdad Soltani ◽  
Gobinath Pillai Rajarathnam ◽  
...  

This study presents a life cycle analysis (LCA) of end-of-life (EoL) photovoltaic (PV) systems in Australia. Three different EoL scenarios are considered for 1 kWh of electricity generation across a 30-year PV system lifespan: (i) disposal to landfill, (ii) recycling by laminated glass recycling facility (LGRF), and (iii) recycling by full recovery of EoL photovoltaics (FRELP). It is found that recycling technologies reduce the overall impact score of the cradle-to-grave PV systems from 0.00706 to 0.00657 (for LGRF) and 0.00523 (for FRELP), as measured using the LCA ReCiPe endpoint single score. The CO2 emissions to air decrease slightly from 0.059 kg CO2 per kWh (landfill) to 0.054 kg CO2 per kWh (for LGRF) and 0.046 kg CO2 per kWh (for FRELP). Increasing the PV system lifespan from 30 years to 50 and 100 years (a hypothetical scenario) improves the ReCiPe endpoint single-score impact from 0.00706 to 0.00424 and 0.00212, respectively, with corresponding CO2 emissions reductions from 0.059 kg CO2 per kWh to 0.035 and 0.018 kg CO2 per kWh, respectively. These results show that employing recycling slightly reduces the environmental impact of the EoL PV systems. It is, however, noted that recycling scenarios do not consider the recycling plant construction step due to a lack of data on these emerging PV panel recycling plants. Accounting for the latter will increase the environmental impact of the recycling scenarios, possibly defeating the purpose of recycling. Increasing the lifespan of the PV systems increases the longevity of the use of panel materials and is therefore favorable towards reducing environmental impacts. Our findings strongly suggest that PV recycling steps and technologies be carefully considered before implementation. More significantly, it is imperative to consider the circular design step up front, where PV systems are designed via circular economy principles such as utility and longevity and are rolled out through circular business models.

Author(s):  
Malte Scharf ◽  
Ludger Heide ◽  
Alexander Grahle ◽  
Anne Syré ◽  
Dietmar Göhlich

This paper establishes a prognosis of the long term environmental impact of various car subsidy concepts. The CO2 emissions of the German car fleet impacted by the purchase subsidies are determined. A balance model of the CO2 emissions of the whole car life cycle is developed. Consideration of production-, use- and End-of-Life processes are taken into account. The implementation of different subsidy scenarios directly affects the forecasted composition of the vehicle population and therefore the resulting life cycle assessment. All scenarios compensate the additional emissions required by the production pull-in within the considered period and hence reduce the accumulated CO2 emissions until 2030. The exclusive funding of BEVs is most effective with a break-even in 2025.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Giraldi-Díaz ◽  
Lorena De Medina-Salas ◽  
Eduardo Castillo-González ◽  
Max De la Cruz-Benavides

Author(s):  
A-G Lupu ◽  
V M Homutescu ◽  
D-T Bălănescu ◽  
A Popescu

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. e21
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Smith ◽  
Neil B. Chatterjee ◽  
Gary N. Orsborn ◽  
Philip B. Morgan

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 11003
Author(s):  
Andreas Pramudianto

Basically each product or service has its own life cycle. Life Cycle Analysis Method can be used to assess the impact of an activity both production and service activities. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Analisis Mengenai Dampak Lingkungan (AMDAL) is one of the activities that must be fulfilled in order to obtain an environmental permit. EIA activities have a life cycle process that needs to be known and understood so that environmental permits can be obtained. Therefore this study aims to find out the use of the LCA method in EIA procedures. In addition, with the LCA method, EIA activities are expected to be well studied according to the function of this service. LCA can provide to reduce the least impact from environmental damage. This research will be useful for the development of environmental science, especially related to the study of environmental impacts, especially EIA. It is expected that the results of the study will provide a complete picture of the relevance of the LCA method with EIA and the benefits that can be taken. The results of this study will be an important recommendation for decision makers regarding the importance of EIA in development, especially sustainable development through the method used, namely LCA.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2917 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Lozano-Miralles ◽  
Manuel Hermoso-Orzáez ◽  
Carmen Martínez-García ◽  
José Rojas-Sola

The construction industry is responsible for 40–45% of primary energy consumption in Europe. Therefore, it is essential to find new materials with a lower environmental impact to achieve sustainable buildings. The objective of this study was to carry out the life cycle analysis (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of baked clay bricks incorporating organic waste. The scope of this comparative study of LCA covers cradle to gate and involves the extraction of clay and organic waste from the brick, transport, crushing, modelling, drying and cooking. Local sustainability within a circular economy strategy is used as a laboratory test. The energy used during the cooking process of the bricks modified with organic waste, the gas emission concentrate and the emission factors are quantified experimentally in the laboratory. Potential environmental impacts are analysed and compared using the ReCiPe midpoint LCA method using SimaPro 8.0.5.13. These results achieved from this method are compared with those obtained with a second method—Impact 2002+ v2.12. The results of LCA show that the incorporation of organic waste in bricks is favourable from an environmental point of view and is a promising alternative approach in terms of environmental impacts, as it leads to a decrease of 15–20% in all the impact categories studied. Therefore, the suitability of the use of organic additives in clay bricks was confirmed, as this addition was shown to improve their efficiency and sustainability, thus reducing the environmental impact.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8242
Author(s):  
Jazmín Maciel Martínez ◽  
Eduardo Baltierra-Trejo ◽  
Paul Taboada-González ◽  
Quetzalli Aguilar-Virgen ◽  
Liliana Marquez-Benavides

Agave distillates, such as tequila and mezcal, are alcoholic spirits representative of Mexican culture. In recent years, the demand for mezcal has increased, and with it the requirement for raw materials, bringing with it a series of difficulties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential environmental impact and energy demand of the production of young craft mezcal from an endemic agave (Agave cupreata) found in the central and southern Pacific area of Mexico. The potential environmental impact of the mezcal studied was obtained through the life cycle analysis methodology using a midpoint approach by the ReCiPe method to calculate the potential environmental impact with SimaPro software (version 8.2.3.0., PRé Sustainability, Amersfoort, The Netherlands). The functional unit is a young craft mezcal bottle of 750 mL with 46% Vol. Alc. The stage of highest contribution to the environmental impact of mezcal was the manufacturing/processing, contributing 59.6% of them. The energy demand of the craft mezcal resulted in 163.8 MJ/bottle of 7.5 dl. The kg CO2eq in mezcal (1.7) is higher than beer (0.63) or white wine (1.01), but lower than whisky (2.25) or pisco (3.62). These findings could allow the search for alternatives for the development of sustainable production.


2020 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 02005
Author(s):  
Amjad Ali ◽  
Muzafar Hussain ◽  
Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman ◽  
Shahbaz Tahir ◽  
Kashif Irshad ◽  
...  

This paper presents the economic, technical, and environmental performance of a GridConnected PV System (GCPVS) designed for a residential building consisting of 14 families for six major cities of Saudi Arabia. HOMER Pro was used in this study for the evaluation of the techno-economical & environmental performance of the GCPVS. Neom, which a newly developed city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, which has never been investigated before for such conditions, is also considered among the selected cities in the current study and thus makes the work novel. This analysis demonstrates that CO2 emissions are considerably higher as compared to their counterparts in both; grid alone and grid + PV systems. The studies concluded that the grid + PV system was feasible for all cities. Parameters like Net Present Cost (NPC), Cost of Energy (COE), and excess electricity were proportional to the PV penetration, but with the increase of PV penetration, CO2 emissions decreased. For the grid + PV system, Neom was found to be the most economical as it demonstrated the lowest NPC ($80, 199) and CO2 emissions (63, 664 kg/yr), among others. Neom, as a rapidly developing city in the North-West of Saudi Arabia, possesses great potential for PV. The results of this study can be used to study further PV systems in different climate zones of Saudi Arabia.


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