scholarly journals Selection of Renewable Energy in Rural Area via Life Cycle Assessment-Analytical Hierarchy Process (LCA-AHP): A Case Study of Tatau, Sarawak

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11880
Author(s):  
Cyril Anak John ◽  
Lian See Tan ◽  
Jully Tan ◽  
Peck Loo Kiew ◽  
Azmi Mohd Shariff ◽  
...  

With a growing global population and energy demand, there is increasing concern about the world's reliance on fossil fuels, which have a negative impact on the climate, necessitating the immediate transition to a cleaner energy resource. This effort can be initiated in the rural areas of developing countries for a sustainable, efficient and affordable energy source. This study evaluated four types of renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, and mini-hydro energy) using the integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approaches to select the best renewable energy source in Tatau, Sarawak. The criteria under consideration in this study included the environment, engineering and economics. The LCA was used to assess the environmental impact of renewable energies from gate-to-grave boundaries based on 50 MJ/day of electricity generation. The AHP results showed that solar energy received the highest score of 0.299 in terms of the evaluated criteria, followed by mini-hydro, biomass and wind energy, which received scores of 0.271, 0.230 and 0.200, respectively. These findings can be used to develop a systematic procedure for determining the best form of renewable energy for rural areas. This approach could be vital for the authorities that are responsible for breaking down multi-perspective criteria for future decision making in the transition into renewable energy.

Author(s):  
Haoxiang Wang

In recent days the need for energy resources is dramatically increasing world-wide. Overall 80% of the energy resource is supplied in the form of fuel based energy source and nuclear based energy source. Where fuel based energy resources are very essential in day-to-day life. Fossil fuel is also one among the energy resource and due to the high demand we face shortage in these resources. Providing electricity in rural areas is still a difficult process because of the shortage of energy resources. This issue can be rectified by choosing an alternate to electricity. To achieve this we have integrated many renewable energy sources to form a hybrid-renewable energy source system and this is capable of providing power supply to these areas. We have adopted artificial neural networks (ANN) technique based on machine learning to accomplish this process. For short-term prediction other techniques such as MLP, CNN, RNN and LSTM are used. These values are used as reference value in final execution.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattia Rapa ◽  
Laura Gobbi ◽  
Roberto Ruggieri

The electro-mobility of vehicles could solve the negative effects of road transport, by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. However, some electric vehicles also have a negative impact on the environment related to the nature of electricity used. This paper aims to evaluate the electricity sources for electric vehicles using a Life Cycle Thinking approach. Life cycle assessment, using several midpoints and endpoint methods, highlighted that the most damaging sources were lignite and diesel, while hydropower, wind, and biomass were the most sustainable ones. Cumulative energy demand showed that biomass used the least energy (0.034 MJ eq.), but originates from 100% non-renewable sources. Lignite, which also comes from 100% non-renewable sources, used the most energy (17.791 MJ eq.). The lowest carbon footprints were for wind, biomass, and photovoltaic (<0.1 kg CO2 eq). Municipal waste incineration and natural gas had a medium impact, while lignite, coal, peat, and diesel had a high impact (>1.0 kg CO2 eq.). Considering life cycle costing, photovoltaic electricity generation was the most expensive (0.2107 USD/kWh) while natural gas the cheapest (0.0661 USD/kWh). Therefore, this study presents an integrated approach that may offer a valid tool for decision-makers, giving them the possibility to choose the electricity sources for electric vehicles.


A major challenge for developing countries is access to electricity in rural area for accelerating its growth. There are significant impediment from the utilities to extend either improved service to the rural user or provide extended hours of supply through conventional grid supply. In developing countries, the most significant challenges are technologies used to upgrade and methods for electrification, which results in poor reliability of supply and high distribution losses, leading to hindering both economic and social development, so energy planners have suggested a hybrid energy system for the electrification of rural areas. This study investigates green energy based integrated generation for rural loads. This proposed system can orchestrate with the grid as well as with the renewable energy-based generator. The wind energy has a natural variance, to satisfy the energy demand during the nocturnal and overcast period a complementary renewable energy generator is critical, or an energy storage mechanism is needed to meet the energy demand. This type of pooled exploitation and interconnection is used to improve the reliability and resilience of the grids. The integration of distributed and clean energy resource like wind generation will reduce fossil fuel emissions and provides electricity in areas which are limitedly served by unified electrical infrastructure. Hence, it is expected to develop/modify technologies available for harnessing renewable energy sources. A MATLAB/Simulink is used to build a model for a grid-wind based integrated generation. Results obtained from MATLAB/Simulink are a close match with a practical system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-94
Author(s):  
Muhammad Faishal ◽  
Muhammad Noor Arfan ◽  
Hayati Mukti Asih

The ABC metal SME produces some wastes, such as liquid waste, solid waste, and smoke. The problem is hazardous waste dumped directly into the environment without any waste treatments which had bad impact on the environment around its SME. Therefore, this research is proposed to improve the production process of metal that can reduce the environmental impacts. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method is developed to identify all the processes that have an impact on the environment and also to calculate the energy used. The values of environmental impact are calculated using Simapro 9.0 Software. In addition, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is employed to determine the best alternative fuel according to four criteria, such as temperature, price, emission, and fuel consumption. The results show the process that has the greatest environmental impact is the metal smelting process. It is caused by the source fuel in this process was used oil. The usage of used oil can be the sources of air pollution that causing health problems in the respiratory tract such as bronchitis and asthma. Some alternative fuel was proposed, however, fuel gas is the best alternative among others according to the expert opinions. For the managerial insight, this research can be suggestion for SME to choose the best fuel in the production process that considering economic and environmental aspects.


Author(s):  
M. von der Thannen ◽  
S. Hoerbinger ◽  
C. Muellebner ◽  
H. Biber ◽  
H. P. Rauch

AbstractRecently, applications of soil and water bioengineering constructions using living plants and supplementary materials have become increasingly popular. Besides technical effects, soil and water bioengineering has the advantage of additionally taking into consideration ecological values and the values of landscape aesthetics. When implementing soil and water bioengineering structures, suitable plants must be selected, and the structures must be given a dimension taking into account potential impact loads. A consideration of energy flows and the potential negative impact of construction in terms of energy and greenhouse gas balance has been neglected until now. The current study closes this gap of knowledge by introducing a method for detecting the possible negative effects of installing soil and water bioengineering measures. For this purpose, an environmental life cycle assessment model has been applied. The impact categories global warming potential and cumulative energy demand are used in this paper to describe the type of impacts which a bioengineering construction site causes. Additionally, the water bioengineering measure is contrasted with a conventional civil engineering structure. The results determine that the bioengineering alternative performs slightly better, in terms of energy demand and global warming potential, than the conventional measure. The most relevant factor is shown to be the impact of the running machines at the water bioengineering construction site. Finally, an integral ecological assessment model for applications of soil and water bioengineering structures should point out the potential negative effects caused during installation and, furthermore, integrate the assessment of potential positive effects due to the development of living plants in the use stage of the structures.


Author(s):  
Ahmed I. Osman ◽  
Neha Mehta ◽  
Ahmed M. Elgarahy ◽  
Amer Al-Hinai ◽  
Ala’a H. Al-Muhtaseb ◽  
...  

AbstractThe global energy demand is projected to rise by almost 28% by 2040 compared to current levels. Biomass is a promising energy source for producing either solid or liquid fuels. Biofuels are alternatives to fossil fuels to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, policy decisions for biofuels should be based on evidence that biofuels are produced in a sustainable manner. To this end, life cycle assessment (LCA) provides information on environmental impacts associated with biofuel production chains. Here, we review advances in biomass conversion to biofuels and their environmental impact by life cycle assessment. Processes are gasification, combustion, pyrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis routes and fermentation. Thermochemical processes are classified into low temperature, below 300 °C, and high temperature, higher than 300 °C, i.e. gasification, combustion and pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is promising because it operates at a relatively lower temperature of up to 500 °C, compared to gasification, which operates at 800–1300 °C. We focus on 1) the drawbacks and advantages of the thermochemical and biochemical conversion routes of biomass into various fuels and the possibility of integrating these routes for better process efficiency; 2) methodological approaches and key findings from 40 LCA studies on biomass to biofuel conversion pathways published from 2019 to 2021; and 3) bibliometric trends and knowledge gaps in biomass conversion into biofuels using thermochemical and biochemical routes. The integration of hydrothermal and biochemical routes is promising for the circular economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6894
Author(s):  
Shakira R. Hobbs ◽  
Tyler M. Harris ◽  
William J. Barr ◽  
Amy E. Landis

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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