Sustainability Assessment of Alternatives for Heat Generation and Transfer in Saunas

In the search for renewable energy sources, solar energy appears, among others, as a powerful alternative; mainly for those countries located at Earth’s equatorial region. This is the case of a Fresnel device that uses solar radiation to warm-up the air; for instance, within saunas. Authors coined the term sustainable technological innovation to refer to a technological innovation in accordance to the principles of sustainability. The object of this research was comparing the sustainability of a Fresnel Lens Solar Concentration (FLSC) against the sustainability of other twelve alternatives to generate heat. This article assesses the sustainability of fourteen technological options for heat generation and transfer to saunas in the northwest region of Mexico where temperatures often reach above 45 C and where there is a greater potential for exploiting solar energy. Emergy accounting, economic analysis, and global warming potential are the three indicators considered in quantifying sustainability. Results show that infrared ceramic photovoltaic, infrared carbon photovoltaic and infrared metal photovoltaic are the most sustainable systems. The Fresnel device reached the fourth and tenth position, using electricity from photovoltaic and from grid respectively, among all fourteen assessed devices, respectively. Although Fresnel equipment does not release any global warming gases into the atmosphere, or even it demands low amount of non-renewable resources, 1.40 and 4.47 E17 seJF/yr. it requires high economic investment, 20,800 and 79,600 USD/yr, for the implementation and operation phases, which decrease its sustainability performance compared to twelve other evaluated devices.

[1]  P. Nilsson.  Environmental Accounting—EMERGY and Environmental Decision Making , 1997, Forest Science.

[2]  Michael J. Ellenbecker,et al.  Indicators of sustainable production: framework and methodology , 2001 .

[3]  Zubaidah Ismail.  Opportunities for further renewable energy utilization for Malaysia , 2011 .

[4]  A. Buenfil,et al.  EMERGY EVALUATION OF WATER , 2001 .

[5]  NMD-Radio,et al.  High-level Panel on Global Sustainability , 2011 .

[6]  O. Nydal,et al.  Charging of a heat storage coupled with a low-cost small-scale solar parabolic trough for cooking purposes , 2013 .

[7]  B. Bakshi.  EMERGY SYNTHESIS 3 : Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology , 2005 .

[8]  Simone Bastianoni,et al.  Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy) , 2001 .

[9]  Paolo Vassallo,et al.  Solar power: An approach to transformity evaluation , 2008 .

[10]  O. Edenhofer.  Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation , 2011 .

[11]  Cecília M.V.B. Almeida,et al.  A combined tool for environmental scientists and decision makers: ternary diagrams and emergy accounting , 2006 .

[12]  Andres F. Clarens,et al.  A Review of Engineering Research in Sustainable Manufacturing , 2013 .

[13]  William R. Sheate,et al.  EFFECTIVENESS OF POLICY LEVEL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT: CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FROM RECENT PRACTICE , 2011 .

[14]  A Alling,et al.  "Living off the land": resource efficiency of wetland wastewater treatment. , 2001, Advances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research.

[15]  F. M. Pulselli,et al.  The input-state-output model and related indicators to investigate the relationships among environment, society and economy , 2016 .

[16]  Hyowon Lee,et al.  The paradox of the sustainable city: definitions and examples , 2015, Environment, Development and Sustainability.

[17]  Todd R. Zenger,et al.  Closed or open innovation? Problem solving and the governance choice , 2014 .

[18]  Antonio Urbina,et al.  Solar electricity in a changing environment: The case of Spain , 2014 .

[19]  Ashoka Mody,et al.  Innovation and the international diffusion of environmentally responsive technology , 1996 .

[20]  Sergio Ulgiati,et al.  Emergy Analysis and Environmental Accounting , 2004 .

[21]  Sergio Ulgiati,et al.  Quantifying the environmental support for dilution and abatement of process emissions The case of electricity production , 2002 .

[22]  David A. Griffith,et al.  A Cross-Cultural Investigation of New Product Strategies for Technological and Design Innovations , 2014 .

[23]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Potential improvements in the optical and thermal efficiencies of parabolic trough concentrators , 2014 .

[24]  Chuck Kutscher,et al.  History, current state, and future of linear Fresnel concentrating solar collectors , 2014 .

[25]  Vorasun Buranakarn,et al.  Emergy indices and ratios for sustainable material cycles and recycle options , 2003 .

[26]  Michael B. McElroy.  Energy: Perspectives, Problems, and Prospects , 2009 .

[27]  Tarik Kousksou,et al.  Energy consumption and efficiency in buildings: current status and future trends , 2015 .

[28]  Silvia Bargigli,et al.  Overcoming the inadequacy of single-criterion approaches to Life Cycle Assessment , 2006 .

[29]  Micki Eisenman,et al.  Understanding aesthetic innovation in the context of technological evolution. , 2013 .

[30]  J. Drexhage,et al.  Sustainable development: from Brundtland to Rio 2012. Background paper prepared for consideration by the High Level Panel on Global Sustainability at its first meeting 19 September 2010. , 2010 .

[31]  Simone Bastianoni,et al.  Ecosystem services as a counterpart of emergy flows to ecosystems , 2011 .