TITLE:
Impact of Different Parameters on Life Cycle Analysis, Embodied Energy and Environmental Emissions for Wind Turbine System
AUTHORS:
Nazia Binte Munir, Ziaul Huque, Raghava R. Kommalapati
KEYWORDS:
Embodied Energy, Energy Payback Time, Emissions, Life Cycle Analysis, Wind Energy
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.7,
June
6,
2016
ABSTRACT: Due to
the rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves and increasing concern for climate
change as a result of greenhouse gas effect, every country is looking for ways
to develop eco-friendly renewable energy sources. Wind energy has become a good
option due to its comparative economic advantages and environment friendly
aspects. But there is always an ongoing debate if wind energy is as green as it
seems to appear. Wind turbines once installed do not produce any greenhouse
gases during operation, but it can and may produce significant emissions during
manufacture, transport, installation and disposal stages. To determine the
exact amount of emissions, it is necessary to consider all the stages for a
wind turbine from manufacture to disposal. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a
technique that determines the energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases
and other environmental impacts of a product or system throughout the life
cycle stages. The various approaches that have been used in the literature for
the LCA of wind turbines have many discrepancies among the results, the main
reason(s) being different investigators used different parameters and boundary
conditions, and thus comparisons are difficult. In this paper, the influence of
different parameters such as turbine size, technology (geared or gearbox less),
recycling, medium of transport, different locations, orientation of the blade
(horizontal or vertical), blade material, positioning of wind turbine (land,
coastal or offshore), etc. on greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy is
studied using the available data from exhaustive search of literature. This
provides tools to find better solutions for power production in an
environmental friendly manner by selecting a proper blade orientation
technique, with suitable blade material, technology, recycling techniques and
suitable location.