New spatiotemporally resolved LCI applied to photovoltaic electricity

Available on: http://www.lcm2011.org/papers.html?file=tl_files/pdf/poster/day1/Beloin-Saint-Pierre-New_spatiotemporally_resolved_LCI_applied-604_b.pdfInternational audienceWe present a new Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) calculation methodology that we call ESPA (Enhanced Structure Path Analysis). The ESPA method is aiming at calculating spatiotemporally defined LCIs while minimizing the difficulties of spatiotemporal information database management. The ESPA methodology uses the Structure Path Analysis capacity to describe completely the supply chain which enables the linkage of temporal distributions defined in the database. An example of electricity production by a multi-crystalline silicon 3 kWp installation is used to describe the ESPA capabilities in details. This new methodology underlines the need for the LCA community to discuss how temporal information should be described in future database. If used to its full potential, the ESPA methodology should enable a significant improvement in the representativeness of LCA results

Challenges of Electricity Production Scenarios Modelling for Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental Impacts

International audienceThis communication presents a first attempt at making a life cycle assessment of prospective electricity production scenarios which were designed in the EnerGEO project. We start by a basic review of system (in this case, scenario) modelling expectations in today's LCA study. We then review some of the challenges of implementation due to the lack of detailed description of present and future electricity production systems. The importance of a detailed description is then shown with an evaluation of uncertainty of life cycle impact assessment results for three scenarios of German electricity production in 2030. The significant uncertainties we found, prevent us from detecting a relevant trend or making any comparison between the three chosen scenarios. We finally come to the conclusion that the LCA methodology will become relevant for the environmental assessment of electricity production scenarios when many more detailed information are accounted to describe future technologies, structures and sources of energy

The ESPA (Enhanced Structural Path Analysis) method: a solution to an implementation challenge for dynamic life cycle assessment studies

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.International audiencePurpose : By analyzing the latest developments in the dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA) methodology, we identify an implementation challenge with the management of new temporal information to describe each system we might want to model. To address this problem, we propose a new method to differentiate elementary and process flows on a temporal level, and explain how it can generate temporally differentiated life cycle inventories (LCI), which are necessary inputs for dynamic impact assessment methods. Methods : First, an analysis of recent DLCA studies is used to identify the relevant temporal characteristics for an LCI. Then, we explain the implementation challenge of handling additional temporal information to describe processes in life cycle assessment (LCA) databases. Finally, a new format of temporal description is proposed to minimize the current implementation problem for DLCA studies. Results and discussion : A new format of process-relative temporal distributions is proposed to obtain a temporal differentiation of LCA database information (elementary flows and product flows). A new LCI calculation method is also proposed since the new format for temporal description is not compatible with the traditional LCI calculation method. Description of the requirements and limits for this new method, named enhanced structural path analysis (ESPA), is also presented. To conclude the description of the ESPA method, we illustrate its use in a strategically chosen scenario. The use of the proposed ESPA method for this scenario reveals the need for the LCA community to reach an agreement on common temporal differentiation strategies for future DLCA studies. Conclusions : We propose the ESPA method to obtain temporally differentiated LCIs, which should then require less implementation effort for the system-modeling step (LCA database definition), even if such concepts cannot be applied to every process

Environmental Impact of PV Systems: Effects of Energy Sources Used in Production of Solar Panels

http://www.eupvsec-proceedings.com/proceedings?char=E&paper=4860International audienceThe international expansion of the PV industry can affect the range of indirect environmental impacts, and mostly the CO2 equivalent emissions, of the solar electricity produced in any country. We demonstrate a clear trend towards high variation in the global warming potential of solar electricity produced in France by PV installations which use modules produced with different electricity mix. The variation is somewhat less important when looking at the Energy Payback Time (EPBT) of the PV installation. In any studied case, the transportation between countries has a low effect compared to the choice made on the source of electricity used during the different steps involved in the fabrication of modules for any technology

Espace-PV: Key Sensitive Parameters for Environmental Impacts of Grid-Connected PV Systems With LCA

http://www.eupvsec-proceedings.com/proceedings?char=E&paper=2818International audienceThe study of sensitive parameters for the life cycle analysis (LCA) of PV system showed that irradiation intensity will bring the biggest variation on environmental impact when considering regions with large difference in solar irradiation level. For example, in France a system installed in the northern region will produce electricity with more than a 100% of the impact of a southern system. Other important factors are the lifetime of the system and the associated electricity use for the different components needed for the PV system. They can bring up to 35% of variation in the production of CO2 gas and primary non-renewable energy use. This study has been developed within Espace-PV project and results have been analyzed and compared with the EcoInvent database. These results are provided for a 3 kWp multicrystalline grid connected system integrated in a slanted roof with near optimal inclination

How Can Temporal Considerations Open New Opportunities for LCA Industry Applications?

International audienceOpportunities of considering time in LCA studies are shown through our "dynamic" system and impact modeling of different domestic hot water systems. Our "dynamic" carbon footprint modeling changed the conclusion of the equivalent "non-dynamic" evaluation which shows that temporal consideration might provide a more representative assessment. The temporally characterized distributions of elementary flows we used also bring new analysis opportunities for practitioners. As an example, we believe that such information will enable the simple identification of products with high potential for future environmental improvement. Describing the temporal distributions of natural resource extraction could be another opportunity for dynamic modeling as they would provide valuable information on when and how consumption could be an issue

Environmental Impacts of Large-Scale Grid-Connected Ground-Mounted PV Installations

Available on: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol11/007/ecp57vol11_007.pdfInternational audienceThis study characterizes the environmental performances of large-scale ground-mounted PV installations by considering a life-cycle approach. The methodology is based on the application of the existing international standards of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Four scenarios are compared, considering fixedmounting structures with (1) primary aluminum supports or (2) wood supports, and mobile structures with (3) single-axis trackers or (4) dual-axis trackers. Life cycle inventories are based on manufacturers' data combined with additional calculations and assumptions. Fixed-mounting installations with primary aluminum supports show the largest environmental impact potential with respect to human health, climate change and energy consumption. The climate change impact potential ranges between 37.5 and 53.5 gCO2eq/kWh depending on the scenario, assuming 1700 kWh/m².yr of irradiation on an inclined plane (30°), and multi-crystalline silicon modules with 14% of energy production performance. Mobile PV installations with dual-axis trackers show the largest impact potential on ecosystem quality, with more than a factor 2 of difference with other considered installations. Supports mass and composition, power density (in MWp/acre of land) and energy production performances appear as key design parameters with respect to large-scale ground mounted PV installations environmental performances, in addition to modules manufacturing process energy inputs

Environmental impacts of large-scale grid-connected ground-mounted PV installations

World Renewable Energy Congress - Sweden, 8-13 May, 2011, Linköping, SwedenInternational audienceThis study characterizes the environmental performances of large-scale ground-mounted PV installations by considering a life cycle approach. The methodology is based on the application of the existing international standards of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Four scenarios are compared, considering fixed-mounting structures with (1) primary aluminum supports or (2) wood supports, and mobile structures with (3) single-axis trackers or (4) dual-axis trackers. Life cycle inventories are based on manufacturers' data combined with additional calculations and assumptions. Fixed-mounting installations with primary aluminum supports show the largest environmental impact potential with respect to human health, climate change and energy consumption. The climate change impact potential ranges between 37.5 and 53.5 g CO2 eq/kWh depending on the scenario, assuming 1700 kWh/m2 yr of irradiation on an inclined plane (30°), and multi-crystalline silicon modules with 14% of energy production performance. Mobile PV installations with dual-axis trackers show the largest impact potential on ecosystem quality, with more than a factor 2 of difference with other considered installations. Supports mass and composition, power density (in MWp/acre of land) and energy production performances appear as key design parameters with respect to large-scale ground-mounted PV installations environmental performances, in addition to modules manufacturing process energy inputs

Environmental Impacts of Solar Thermal Systems with Life Cycle Assessment

Available on: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol14/002/ecp57vol14_002.pdfInternational audienceSolar thermal systems are an ecological way of providing domestic hot water. They are experiencing a rapid growth since the beginning of the last decade. This study characterizes the environmental performances of such installations with a life-cycle approach. The methodology is based on the application of the international standards of Life Cycle Assessment. Two types of systems are presented. Firstly a temperate-climate system, with solar thermal collectors and a backup energy as heat sources. Secondly, a tropical system, with thermosiphonic solar thermal system and no backup energy. For temperate-climate systems, two alternatives are presented: the first one with gas backup energy, and the second one with electric backup energy. These two scenarios are compared to two conventional scenarios providing the same service, but without solar thermal systems. Life cycle inventories are based on manufacturer data combined with additional calculations and assumptions. The fabrication of the components for temperate-climate systems has a minor influence on overall impacts. The environmental impacts are mostly explained by the additional energy consumed and therefore depend on the type of energy backup that is used. The study shows that the energy pay-back time of solar systems is lower than 2 years considering gas or electric energy when compared to 100% gas or electric systems

Environmental impact assessment of electricity production by photovoltaic system using GEOSS recommendations on interoperability

International audienceWithin the Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP-3) of GEOSS, we have developed a scenario called "environmental impact assessment of the production, transportation and use of energy for the photovoltaic (PV) sector through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)". It aims at providing decision-makers and policy-planners with reliable and geo-localized knowledge of several impacts induced by various technologies of the PV sector. The scenario is implemented in the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) and benefits from the GEOSS interoperability arrangements. The FP7-co-funded EnerGEO project provides a GEOSS compliant Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW) that permits to discover the Web Processing Service (WPS) allowing computation of the environmental impact. A WebGIS client provided by the FP7-co-funded GENESIS platform allows users to interact with geospatial data and computation processes. This scenario has proven to be an efficient tool to disseminate knowledge on environmental impacts related to PV because of the GEOSS capabilities in interoperability