Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Energy Systems

Concerns about the environmental impacts associated with consumer products led to the development of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) from the early 1990s and its codification by the International Standards Organization (ISO). This was followed by the realization of the consequences of other devices and systems. The need for the energy analysis and environmental appraisal of energy systems to be conducted on a life cycle basis, therefore, became evident. In a full or detailed LCA, the energy and materials used and pollutants or wastes released into the environment as a consequence of an activity or service are quantified over the whole life cycle, typically “from cradle-to-grave.” Such studies are often geographically diverse; that is, the energy and material inputs associated with the activity may be drawn from any continent or geopolitical region of the world. However, they enable a wide range of key environmental consequences to be examined as part of the device or system design process. There are four main stages of LCA, which follow a logical sequence of goal definition and scoping, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. LCA methodology is critically reviewed from a state-of-the-art perspective and illustrated using several energy sector case studies. These examples concern specific energy technologies, as well as the “whole systems” appraisal of national energy sectors and transition pathways. The current strengths and weaknesses of LCA are identified for energy practitioners and policy analysts. Material has been incorporated on life cycle embodied energy and carbon accounting and comparisons made with related approaches, such as carbon and environmental footprinting. Keywords: carbon accounting; embodied energy and carbon; energy analysis; environmental life cycle assessment (LCA); environmental footprints; sustainability; energy and power technologies; energy scenarios or transition pathways; whole systems appraisal

[1]  Geoff Hammond,et al.  The Implications of Upstream Emissions from the Power Sector , 2014 .

[2]  Lennart Olsson,et al.  Categorising tools for sustainability assessment , 2007 .

[3]  John Holmberg,et al.  Simplicity Without Reduction: Thinking Upstream Towards the Sustainable Society , 2000, Interfaces.

[4]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  The Lebanese electricity system in the context of sustainable development , 2010 .

[5]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Prospects for and barriers to domestic micro-generation: A United Kingdom perspective , 2008 .

[6]  David Pennington,et al.  Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment. , 2009, Journal of environmental management.

[7]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  North and south: Regional footprints on the transition pathway towards a low carbon, global economy , 2010 .

[8]  Stefanie Hellweg,et al.  Ecological footprint accounting in the life cycle assessment of products , 2008 .

[9]  J. Schmidt.  Development of LCIA characterisation factors for land use impacts on biodiversity , 2008 .

[10]  R. Clift,et al.  Developing a sustainability framework for the assessment of bioenergy systems , 2007 .

[11]  Jiří Jaromír Klemeš,et al.  A Review of Footprint analysis tools for monitoring impacts on sustainability , 2012 .

[12]  Adisa Azapagic,et al.  Options for broadening and deepening the LCA approaches , 2010 .

[13]  M. Margni,et al.  Considering time in LCA: dynamic LCA and its application to global warming impact assessments. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[14]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development: A UK Perspective , 2000 .

[15]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Challenges of the transition to a low carbon, more electric future: From here to 2050 , 2013, Energy Policy.

[16]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Whole systems appraisal of a UK Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system: Energy, environmental, and economic evaluations , 2012 .

[17]  Varun,et al.  LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems—A review , 2009 .

[18]  G. Hammond,et al.  Time to give due weight to the 'carbon footprint' issue , 2007, Nature.

[19]  F. Roberts.  The aims, methods and uses of energy accounting , 1978 .

[20]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  The energy and environmental implications of UK more electric transition pathways: A whole systems perspective , 2013 .

[21]  E Bilgen,et al.  Exergetic and engineering analyses of gas turbine based cogeneration systems , 2000 .

[22]  F. Geels.  Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study , 2002 .

[23]  Eugenio F. Carrasco,et al.  Review of corporate environmental indicators , 2011 .

[24]  Jinglan Hong,et al.  Uncertainty propagation in life cycle assessment of biodiesel versus diesel: global warming and non-renewable energy. , 2012, Bioresource technology.

[25]  Roland Clift,et al.  Climate change and energy policy: The importance of sustainability arguments , 2007 .

[26]  R. Heijungs,et al.  Life-cycle assessment for energy analysis and management , 2007 .

[27]  Jefferson W. Tester,et al.  Quantitative uncertainty analysis of Life Cycle Assessment for algal biofuel production. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[28]  V. Castellani,et al.  Ecological Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment in the sustainability assessment of tourism activities , 2012 .

[29]  Martin Pehnt,et al.  Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies , 2006 .

[30]  D W Pennington,et al.  Life cycle assessment: Part 1: Framework, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications , 2004 .

[31]  Scott Duncan,et al.  A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment , 2008 .

[32]  Göran Finnveden,et al.  On the limitations of life cycle assessment and environmental systems analysis tools in general , 2000 .

[33]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Integrated appraisal of micro-generators: methods and applications , 2008 .

[34]  G. P. Hammond,et al.  Developing transition pathways for a low carbon electricity system in the UK , 2008, 2008 First International Conference on Infrastructure Systems and Services: Building Networks for a Brighter Future (INFRA).

[35]  Adam M. Boies,et al.  Quantifying the uncertainties in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for UK wheat ethanol , 2013 .

[36]  Sirpa Kurppa,et al.  Developing benchmarks for consumer-oriented life cycle assessment-based environmental information on products, services and consumption patterns , 2007 .

[37]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crops products , 2011 .

[38]  G Finnveden,et al.  Life cycle assessment part 2: current impact assessment practice. , 2004, Environment international.

[39]  Marcelle C. McManus,et al.  Use of LCA as a development tool within early research: challenges and issues across different sectors , 2013, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[40]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Techno-economic appraisal of fossil-fuelled power generation systems with carbon dioxide capture and , 2011 .

[41]  Gjalt Huppes,et al.  System boundary selection in life-cycle inventories using hybrid approaches. , 2004, Environmental science & technology.

[42]  Adisa Azapagic,et al.  Life cycle Assessment and its Application to Process Selection, Design and Optimisation , 1999 .

[43]  Tomas Carlsson,et al.  Strategic environmental assessment methodologies--applications within the energy sector , 2003 .

[44]  Reinout Heijungs,et al.  Identifying best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment , 2012, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[45]  E. Heiskanen.  The institutional logic of life cycle thinking , 2002 .

[46]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  'People, planet and prosperity' : The determinants of humanity's environmental footprint , 2006 .

[47]  Göran Finnveden,et al.  Scenarios in selected tools for environmental systems analysis , 2008 .

[48]  Robert Ries,et al.  Environmental decision making in multi-stakeholder contexts: applicability of life cycle thinking in development planning and implementation , 2009 .

[49]  Michael D. Sohn,et al.  Confronting Uncertainty in Life Cycle Assessment Used for Decision Support , 2014 .

[50]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Carbon and environmental footprinting of global biofuel production , 2013 .

[51]  Manfred Lenzen,et al.  A research agenda for improving national Ecological Footprint accounts , 2009 .

[52]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Embodied energy and carbon in construction materials , 2008 .

[53]  Riccardo Battisti,et al.  Evaluation of technical improvements of photovoltaic systems through life cycle assessment methodology , 2005 .

[54]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Engineering sustainability: thermodynamics, energy systems, and the environment , 2004 .

[55]  Michael Zwicky Hauschild,et al.  Comparison of Three Different LCIA Methods: EDIP97, CML2001 and Eco-indicator 99 , 2003 .

[56]  Geoffrey P. Hammond,et al.  Carbon and environmental footprinting of low carbon UK electricity futures to 2050 , 2012 .

[57]  John J. Reap,et al.  A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment , 2008 .

[58]  Norihiro Itsubo,et al.  A new LCIA method: LIME has been completed , 2003 .

[59]  Andreas Ciroth,et al.  Uncertainty calculation in life cycle assessments , 2004 .

[60]  Göran Finnveden,et al.  Allocation in ISO 14041—a critical review , 2001 .

[61]  G. P. Hammond,et al.  Footprints on the landscape: An environmental appraisal of urban and rural living in the developed world , 2007 .

[62]  Robert U. Ayres,et al.  Life cycle analysis: A critique , 1995 .

[63]  Gerald Rebitzer,et al.  IMPACT 2002+: A new life cycle impact assessment methodology , 2003 .