Search

Electric vehicles and renewable energy sources in transportation played a significant role in promoting sustainable transportation systems. The overall performance of the electric vehicle is highly dependent on the electricity mix consumed during their production and use phase. Therefore, a comprehensive and dynamic assessment is necessary to provide accurate guidance to users and policymakers. Therefore, this study presents a comparative cradle to grave life cycle analysis of electric vehicles in 10 selected countries using the current and future electricity mix scenarios. We present the environmental footprint of vehicle production, transportation, and use phases. The results revealed that EVs in China with current (2019) and future 2025 electricity mix scenarios had a higher impact than all other EVs. In contrast, EV with 2030 Norway electricity mix was an optimal choice and has the least environmental impact in most of the selected categories. Moreover, it was also found that all EVs with 2030 electricity mix had lower environmental damages than EV 2019 electricity mix. Besides, this study outcome indicated that the use of clean energy could help to decrease the environmental impact and mitigate climate change all around the globe., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The European Union is targeting climate neutrality by 2050, with a focus on enhancing energy efficiency, expanding renewable energy sources, and reducing emissions. Within Italy's electricity mix, bioenergy sources, namely biogas, solid biomass, and bioliquids, play a crucial territorial role. A comparative analysis was conducted through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), utilizing national data from the ARCADIA project, to assess the environmental sustainability of the investigated bioenergy chains and identify the most convenient ones. The study revealed that, among the bioenergy sources, solid biomass emerges as the most environmentally friendly option since it does not rely on dedicated crops. Conversely, biogas shows the highest environmental impact, demonstrating less favorable performance across nine out of the sixteen evaluated impact categories. The LCA underscores that the cultivation of dedicated energy crops significantly contributes to environmental burdens associated with electricity generation, affecting both biogas and bioliquids performance. The cultivation process needs water and chemical fertilizers, leading to adverse environmental effects. These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing residual biomass for energy generation over dedicated crops. Utilizing forestry and agro-industrial residues, municipal solid waste, and used cooking oils presents numerous advantages, including environmental preservation, resource conservation and recovery, as well as waste reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

APEC has collectively agreed to two energy-related goals. One aims to double the proportion of modern renewable energy (RE) in the energy mix by 2030 compared to 2010. This study intends to assess the performance of individual APEC members in five objectives. They are (1) the current renewables share of APEC, (2) the individual member's performance in the development of renewables, (3) the individual member's contribution to the APEC renewable goal, (4) the drivers of the growth of the renewable shares of APEC, and (5) if the goal would be achieved. For objective (2), we use the simple differencing method. For objectives (3)–(5), we employ the Log Mean Divisia Index method. Results show that Chile emerged as the top performer in increasing RE share in Solar and Wind, while Australia led in the total volume of modern renewables. The top two contributors are China and the USA, in that order. In terms of different renewables, Wind was the most significant contributor. Hydro was the second-largest contributor to APEC's renewable share increase until 2017. After 2017, Solar overtook Hydro to become the second-largest contributor. The result of a simple regression analysis suggests that the goal can be achieved by 2028. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermittency of wind and solar productions raises the concern of finding other sources of electricity to match the consumption when an hibernal anticyclone reduces dramatically wind production. In this situation occurring every year the stress on the grid is at maximum with the consumption at a peak and a low photovoltaic production. Despite these risks, scenarios still aim at high shares of wind and solar in the electricity mix of 2050, assuming that different wind regimes in Europe would allow France to import wind productions from its neighbors when in need. The study considers a typical situation given by hourly wind productions of the first two months of 2020, in France and in the closest countries. Assuming a full renewable electricity mix officially envisioned in France and Germany for 2050, the exchanges are computed and illustrated for the two months, with a focus on an anticyclone which occurred in the second part of January. The exchanges will not solve the shortage in France and it could even worsen it. The 50-50 renewable and nuclear scenario is given for comparison, showing that the solution lies in providing adequate secured power plant capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local waste biomass utilization for electricity generation may have significant impact on global warming mitigation. This study investigates the electricity generation capacity of select counties in Mississippi (MS) and determines the fossil fuel offsets that can be achieved through electricity generation from wood biomass residues. Results suggest that selected counties in MS have the potential to completely or partially replace the existing electricity supplier promoting energy independence and security using wood residues as feedstock with an average nominal and real LCOE (Levelized cost of electricity) values of 12.77 cents/kWh and 10.87 cents/kWh, respectively. This can reduce the GHG emissions and their contribution towards global warming from the fossil fuel percentage of electricity mix supplied to the counties. Furthermore, the avoided CO 2 eq emissions resulted in significant carbon tax savings when imposed on MS. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the electricity output is dependent mainly on the feedstock availability while other factors such as conversion efficiency, and boiler parameters have shown significant impact. Results from parametric analysis showed that the feedstock availability had highest impact on the annual electricity output and price ($/ton) of the feedstock type had high impact on LCOE. This investigation aids in promoting sustainable energy systems development via renewable energy integration in the electricity mix of Mississippi, US. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The electricity and heat sectors are reported to contribute approximately 40% of total CO2 emissions from the energy sector in Indonesia. Nonetheless, Indonesia is composed of several interconnected electricity-grid networks with different characteristics. This study was conducted to identify the life cycle inventories (LCIs) and perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the potential environmental impacts of electricity distributed in the Jamali grid network, contributing to 72% of the total electricity produced in Indonesia. Methods: An LCA was conducted with a functional unit of 1 kWh of electricity generated and transmitted in the distribution line in the Jamali grid network in 2018. The system boundary used in this study was cradle-to-gate, covering fuel production and transportation, electricity generation, and electricity distribution. The LCIs were gathered for each power plant's technology connected to the grid, which includes fuel consumption, fuel-related wastes, infrastructure, land use, water use, and air emissions. The following impact categories were assessed: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical oxidation potential (POX), abiotic depletion potential (ADP), abiotic depletion potential–fossil fuels (ADF), and water scarcity footprint (WSF). Methods used to calculate those categories include IPCC GWP 100a, CML-IA (Baseline and Non-baseline), ReCiPe, and AWARE. Results and discussion: LCI analysis showed that the subcritical coal-fired power plants contributed to the highest electricity generation (58.80%), energy consumption (89.39%), and CO2 production (70.52%) among other technologies connected to the grid. Subsequently, for every 1 kWh of electricity distributed in the grid, the power plants' operation produced the largest GWP, AP, and POX. Each category produced a total of 1.06 kg CO2 eq., 5.89 × 10−03 kg SO2 eq, and 4.08 × 10−03 kg NMVOC, respectively. The EP and ADF produced were 2.62 × 10−03 kg PO4 eq. and 1.58 × 101 MJ, respectively, mainly resulting from coal mining. ADP produced was 2.30 × 10−05 kg Sb eq. and WSF produced was 3.8 × 10−02 m3, both majorly contributed by the production of transmission and distribution grid materials. Conclusions: LCA performed to determine the potential environmental impacts from the electricity distributed in the Jamali grid showed that the electricity produced from subcritical coal-fired power plants dominated the electricity mix in 2018. Subsequently, it contributed significantly to multiple impact categories, namely GWP, AP, and POX. Reducing the use of subcritical coal-fired power plants is thus essential to reduce the environmental impacts, which is aligned with the Indonesian government's plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2060. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: An estimation of the environmental impact of buildings by means of a life cycle assessment (LCA) raises uncertainty related to the parameters that are subject to major changes over longer time spans. The main aim of the present study is to evaluate the influence of modifications in the electricity mix and the production efficiency in the chosen reference year on the embodied impacts (i.e., greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) of building materials and components and the possible impact of this on future refurbishment measures. Methods: A new LCA methodological approach was developed and implemented that can have a significant impact on the way in which existing buildings are assessed at the end of their service lives. The electricity mixes of different reference years were collected and assessed, and the main datasets and sub-datasets were modified according to the predefined substitution criteria. The influence of the electricity-mix modification and production efficiency were illustrated on a selected existing reference building, built in 1970. The relative contribution of the electricity mix to the embodied impact of the production phase was calculated for four different electricity mixes, with this comprising the electricity mix from 1970, the current electricity mix and two possible future electricity-mix scenarios for 2050. The residual value of the building was also estimated. Results and discussion: In the case presented, the relative share of the electricity mix GHG emission towards the total value was as high as 20% for separate building components. If this electricity mix is replaced with an electricity mix having greater environmental emissions, the relative contribution of the electricity mix to the total emissions can be even higher. When, by contrast, the modified electricity mix is almost decarbonized, the relative contribution to the total emissions may well be reduced to a point where it becomes negligible. The modification of the electricity mix can also influence the residual value of a building. In the observed case, the differences due to different electricity mixes were in the range of 10%. Conclusions: It was found that those parameters that are subject to a major change during the reference service period of the building should be treated dynamically in order to obtain reliable results. Future research is foreseen to provide additional knowledge concerning the influence of dynamic parameters on both the use phase and the end-of-life phase of buildings, and these findings will also be important when planning future refurbishment measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts are driven to fast-track energy transition for more energy security, resilience, and affordable energy for all. A major objective in implementing the transition to renewable energies is the overall reduction of the global warming potential (GWP). Therefore, it is important to investigate key parameters that can reduce the GWP of renewable energy technologies even further. In this study, the GWP of a state-of-the-art, market-dominating passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) in a glass-backsheet photovoltaic (PV) module based on Czochralski (Cz) grown silicon wafers is explored to determine the influence of up-to-date electricity mix of the production location, the installation location as well as the lifetime. This comprehensive analysis showed a GWP reduction potential of approximately 62% only through strategic planning of the upstream production location of each life cycle phase. Additionally, approximately 58% of the GWP reduction potential is observed by changing the downstream installation location and lifetime of the PV modules. Furthermore, this study promotes and provides guidelines for modelling the correct electricity mix in the correct voltage composition, which is important to precisely portray time representativeness of the grid electricity in LCA of any production process but rarely used in practice. Lastly, the study provides opportunities for solar cell manufacturers to create a more sustainable product by strategically reducing their product's GWP through changes in the electricity mix of the supply chain location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of recognizing co-firing coal with biomass as renewable electricity. We provide simulations for the French and German electricity mix. Results indicate that, if co-firing is recognized as a renewable, coal may crowd-out traditional renewables with increased generation and additional investments. Regarding CO2 emissions, we find surges when co-firing is recognized as a renewable. The rise is more significant in Germany due to greater coal capacity. In France, the magnitude depends on the share of nuclear with a lower increase when old nuclear plants are prolonged. Finally, we find that recognizing co-firing as a renewable reduces the overall costs for electricity. We balance the cost saving with the increased social cost from higher CO2 emissions. Results show that the cost saving is lower than the increased carbon cost for society with carbon valuation around 100 Euros/tCO2, except in France when old nuclear plants are not decommissioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrification of the transport sector is considered as a solution to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and achieve sustainable mobility. Specifically in the case of electrification of passenger vehicles, various industrial and policy initiatives have been introduced. In this article, we present and assess three approaches – pro-technology , pro-simplicity and mix (of the aforementioned approaches) – to achieve target emission reductions in the Norwegian road transport sector. We also assess the influence of including ‘Guarantee of Origin’ certification for the electricity production in accounting for typical consumption electricity mix in Norway. Results show that for the same reductions in tail-pipe GHG emissions, pro-technology, pro-simplicity, and the mix scenario offer 22%, 29% and 28% reduction in the life cycle GHG emissions respectively, compared to the reference scenario in year 2020. However, the pro-simplicity scenario requires 25% reduction in vehicle-km driven compared to the pro-technology scenario, which provides the same passenger car mobility as in the reference case. When the GHG intensity of the electricity mix used to power EVs is corrected to account for actual consumption mix in Norway, a 13% reduction in the net GHG benefit of pro-technology scenario is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) are considered to be a better alternative for conventional vehicles in the matter of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and urban air pollution reduction. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely used methodology to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of vehicle technologies. In this study, we compare the life cycle environmental emissions of CO 2 equivalent (CO 2e ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO X ) and particulate matters (PM) of the BEV with the petrol and diesel vehicles. Unlike many other literatures, this study uses the real-world energy consumption data for the environmental assessment. In addition, this study explores the possible impact of the short term and long term fluctuations in the electricity mix and the vehicle charging profile, on the life cycle emissions performance of BEV. The influence of charging profile on the well-to-tank (WTT) emissions (i.e. emissions associated with electricity production) of BEV is discussed by using hourly emissions and different possible peak and off-peak charging time frames. The results of this study proves off-peak charging is a better option to reduce the life cycle emissions, compared to peak charging. When a BEV is charged during off-peak hours instead of peak hours, the well-to-tank CO 2 , SO 2 , NO X and PM emissions per km can be reduced significantly. Also, this study emphasizes the importance of taking driving behaviors of users and auxiliary energy consumption into account. This aspect is analyzed by comparing the empirical energy consumption and the corresponding WTT emissions of BEV, with the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) standard values. The results reveal that the auxiliary energy consumption is responsible for, nearly a third of the WTT emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Portuguese electricity mix is undergoing a significant shift away from the technologies that have dominated generation for the past decades. This article aims at assessing the environmental life-cycle impacts of electricity generation and supply in Portugal (PT), including: (i) modeling the main electricity generation systems; (ii) modeling the transmission and distribution (T&D) grid infrastructure; (iii) characterizing the evolution of the electricity sector in PT from 2003 to 2012; and (iv) discussing how the recent changes in the technology portfolio affected the environmental performance of the electricity generated and supplied. The life-cycle assessment methodology was used to quantify impacts in: non-renewable fossil energy demand (nREn), global warming (GW), abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), eutrophication (ET), photochemical oxidation (PO) and ozone layer depletion (OD). From 2003 to 2012, an overall reduction of the environmental impacts was achieved. In particular, since 2008, electricity generation impacts in AC and PO dropped sharply as a result of the installation of desulphurization (62% reduction in AC; 74% reduction in PO) and denitrification (5% reduction in AC) systems in coal power plants (PP), as well as the phase out of large fuel oil PP. For NREn, AD and GW, the reduction of impacts was less pronounced (9–22% in the generation mix; 14–22% in the supply mix). T&D grid added 5–14% to the environmental impacts due to infrastructure (<5%) and T&D losses (5–9%). Despite the large increase in renewable capacity (especially wind) and the investments in lower-carbon fossil fuel technologies (natural gas), electricity generation still relies heavily on coal. There is, however, potential to further reduce environmental impacts in key categories (NREn, AD and GW) since there is significant available capacity of natural gas combined cycle currently underutilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity market decarbonization using renewable energies is essential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the identification of the optimum electrical mix for each country is a challenging and complex task because of the many boundary conditions that must be taken into account, thus demanding the use of advanced analysis and computing tools. This paper presents a methodology based on artificial intelligence developed for this purpose and the results obtained when applied to the specific case of the Spanish electricity market long-term decarbonization. It also shows how effective this methodology is to find the optimum electrical mix fulfilling previously defined objectives: 100% coverage of the demand while simultaneously minimizing the electricity cost and curtailments. Results show the significant barriers to achieve a 100% renewable electrical mix without excessive curtailments or installed power. The methodology described here is suitable for any other country and target objectives. • Smart electricity mix optimization based on artificial intelligence. • Multi-objective optimization to simultaneously minimize cost and curtailments. • The optimized mix covers the demand without exceeding the maximum greenhouse gas emissions. • Application to the long-term full decarbonization of the Spanish power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• GHG emissions of different EV charging strategies in Europe in 2050 are analyzed. • A model coupling concept of linking LCA and PERSEUS-EU is applied. • Emissions from uncontrolled charging are higher than controlled charging strategies. • Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) has lower emissions than unidirectional charging. • V2G is not the silver bullet and its success is sensitive to many influences. The growing market share of electric vehicles (EV) has increased the interest in charging strategies and their effects on the electricity system as well as their climatic soundness. However, the benefits of different charging strategies including Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) on a large regional scale, e.g. in Europe, have not been analyzed sufficiently. This study examines the impact of different charging strategies on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity generation and EV batteries in Europe in 2050. To consider indirect emissions and potentially additional battery degradation due to V2G, a model coupling concept is applied to link Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with the electricity system model, PERSEUS-EU. Overall, EV could reduce the GHG emissions by 36% by simply replacing conventional cars. Controlled unidirectional charging and V2G add another 4 or 11 percentage points on the European level. However, for these gains an efficient implementation of V2G is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy transitions around the world will change the spatial fingerprint of the electricity sector, but there is a lack of studies on citizen preferences for siting the future mix of electricity technologies. Using the case of Switzerland in 2035, we present a serious board game to form and elicit citizen preferences for spatial siting of a full mix of electricity technologies and we test this game with 44 participants in the city of Zurich. The game proves to help elicit valid preferences of the participants and lead to measurable learning effects about this complex, multi-dimensional topic. The results show that these 44 participants prefer a diverse mix of renewable technologies for Switzerland in 2035. In terms of siting, these participants consistently choose the efficiency strategy, where new plants are concentrated in the areas where they produce most electricity at least cost, in contrast to the strategy of regional equity, where all Swiss regions would equally build new generation and share the benefits and burdens of the energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an increasingly widespread method for the environmental accounting of products and services. Since almost all production processes use grid electricity, the environmental impact of power generation plays a key role in LCA. There is high potential both on a local and a regional scale for improving electricity generation to achieve decarbonisation goals in the near future. The environmental impact of electricity supply from the grid varies both in the short (intra-annual) and in the long term (over several years). This variation is usually highly simplified in current LCA practice, to yearly average or a specific year's impact. In this paper, a method is presented for linking a detailed economic model and life cycle assessment to evaluate both intra-annual and long-term variation in the environmental impact of grid electricity. The model is applied for the case study of Hungary for three future scenarios. The "Decarbon" and "Delayed" scenarios include an emission reduction target of 94% for 2050 compared to 1990 for the EU with a less intensive support of renewables until 2035 in the "Delayed" scenario. The "No target" scenario sets no long-term goal for carbon-dioxide emission reduction. Our results show that in the next 30 years, 87% reduction is expected in the Global Warming Potential compared to 2018 in the Hungarian electricity mix if the decarbonisation of the grid is fulfilled. However, without support for renewable energy, only 30% reduction is foreseen. While the effect of intra-annual variation is relatively low in the current fossil-based electricity market and in the "No target" scenario, its significance is expected to increase in the future with a change in the coefficient of variation to 77% from 10% by 2050. The results indicate that dynamic modelling of electricity taking into account variation due to cross-border trading and renewable penetration will influence the LCA results for products depending on their lifetime and pattern of electricity use. Image 1 • Linking LCA with a partial equilibrium electricity market model. • Hourly modelling helps to identify periods with the highest environmental impact. • 87% cut expected in Hungarian electricity CO 2 -eq by 2050 in decarbonisation scenario. • Coefficient of variation of electricity CO 2 -eq may rise to 77% from 10% by 2050. • Electricity demand peak period does not coincide with environmental peak period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicles, when coupled to electricity generation from renewable energy sources, can become a viable solution to decarbonize the transport sector. However, given the high variability of electricity mixes on a daily and seasonal basis, high-resolution profiles are needed for a precise analysis of the impacts of electric vehicles in terms of greenhouse gases emissions. This paper presents a comparison of different charging profiles evaluated on 10 European countries over four years, to highlight the effects of national electricity mixes and of the type of charging location on the specific emissions of EVs charging. This study, based on three archetypal charging profiles, provide a quantification of the potential influence of different charging strategies on the average emission factor of the electricity supplied to electric vehicles. The results show that the variability related to charging profiles is generally limited, with an average variation range of 6% for any given country and year, while in several countries the variability from one year to another is much larger, with an average range of 18% for any given country and charging profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]