Abstract
Electricity from the combination of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines exhibits potential benefits towards the sustainable cities transition. Nevertheless, the highly fluctuating and intermittent character limits an extended applicability in the energy market. Particularly, batteries represent a challenging approach to overcome the existing constraints and to achieve sustainable urban energy development. On the basis of the market roll-out and level of technological maturity, five commercially available battery technologies are assessed in this work, namely, lead–acid, lithium manganese oxide, nickel–cadmium, nickel–metal hydride, and vanadium redox flow. When considering sustainable development, environmental assessments provide valuable information. In this vein, an environmental analysis of the technologies is conducted using a life cycle assessment methodology from a cradle-to-gate perspective. A comparison of the environmental burden of battery components identified vanadium redox flow battery as the lowest environmental damage battery. In terms of components, electrodes; the electrolyte; and the set of pumps, motors, racks, and bolts exhibited the greatest environmental impact related to manufacturing. In terms of materials, copper, steel, sulphuric acid, and vanadium were identified as the main contributors to the midpoint impact categories. The results have highlighted that challenging materials 4.0 are still needed in battery manufacturing to provide sustainable technology designs required to the future urban planning based on circular economy demands.
Highlights
The use of renewable energy sources is foreseen as a route that contributes significantly towards reducing carbon emission levels in European Union (EU) countries [1]
It clearly shows that low-alloyed steel is responsible for 46% of the environmental burden and, it is identified as a key material
According to the database developed in this study (Ecoinvent 3.4.), the coke required for pig iron production is the initial contributor in the global warming potential (GWP) category
Summary
The use of renewable energy sources is foreseen as a route that contributes significantly towards reducing carbon emission levels in European Union (EU) countries [1]. Among the large number of renewable energy technologies, photovoltaic panels combined with wind turbines have been reported as technologies that can be used to promote circular urban metabolism [2]. One important advantage of these technologies is that they allow electricity production in areas where off-grid systems are needed [2]. In this vein, Bhandari et al [3] proposed using hydro, wind, and solar photovoltaic energy to develop off-grid hybrid systems based on different energy sources. Naqvi et al [4] reported about the benefits of renewable off-grid systems based on biomass. A renewable energy system comprising different technologies can be implemented to mitigate the effects of intermittent wind and sunlight, and to supply energy to remote areas
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