Life cycle assessment of energy sources and applications

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Abstract
Energy conversion technologies using renewable energy sources (RES) are important to the de-carbonization goals, as set in the Paris Agreement. Accurate information on the environments impact of different energy sources and technologies is important for accurate planning of generation with the environmental protection in mind. Since different sources and technologies have different impacts at different levels, it is necessary to track impacts across the entire lifecycle. Therefore, technologies should be compared in terms of their life-cycle impacts not just impacts at the point of use or a specific common stage which may be misleading. The life cycle analysis (LCA) methodology has emerged as an effective and reliable tool in energy planning for the transition. This study presents the general environmental impacts of power generation technologies based on life-cycle assessments (LCAs) and other applications of the LCA metric. The assessments cover impacts from extraction, processing and transportation of fuels, construction of power plants and power generation. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) to of power generation technologies is very useful as the world seeks ways to meet growing electricity demand with less health and environmental impacts. However, the LCA is an evolving methodology having some barriers and challenges but has significantly helped in improving the understanding of the lifecycle of energy technologies, their greenhouse gas emissions, related air pollutant emissions, and water-use levels and impacts in heat and power generation. The application of LCA tool facilitate the implementation of analytically thorough and environmentally holistic approach in assessment and comparison of power generation technologies. Most LCAs show that the best power plants are hydropower, both run-of-river and with reservoir, nuclear energy, and wind power. The main application of lifecycle assessment is to identify the environmental impacts of goods and services over the entire life cycle of the product, service or energy system. In the power sector, LCAs are used to asses environmental impact of power generation technologies enabling power producers to make more informed decisions on environmental protection and sustainability of options available.

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