Abstract
Hydropower is a widely used source of clean energy which causes some hazardous emissions that affect human health, ecosystems, and resources. However, in spite of an enormous amount of hydropower generation in Europe, no research has been carried out to evaluate the hazardous emissions from plants located in alpine and nonalpine areas. Therefore, this chapter will analyze and compare the environmental impacts of hydropower plants in alpine and nonalpine areas of Europe by a systematic life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The impacts are estimated by the ReCiPe 2016, Impact 2002+, and Eco-points 97 methods based on a number of effect indicators such as global warming, ozone formation, ecotoxicity, water consumption, acidification, eutrophication, ionizing radiation, carcinogenic radiation, ozone depletion, and land use. Moreover, the fossil fuel-based power consumptions and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the life cycle of hydropower plants in both locations are estimated using the cumulative energy demand (CED) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, respectively. The outcomes reveal that hydropower plants of alpine regions offer a better environmental profile for the global warming indicator (2.97×10−5 kg CO2-eq./MJ) than nonalpine plants (3.92×10−4 kg CO2-eq./MJ), but the effects are nearly identical for the other indicators. Overall, the hydropower plants of nonalpine regions contribute 10 times more to climate change than alpine ones. The findings of this research will play a pivotal role in promoting sustainable production of hydropower, especially using the full potential of the alpine region, thus leading towards environmentally friendly clean renewable electricity generation.
Published Version
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