Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis of Natural Gas-Based Distributed Generation Projects in China

Aluminum production is a major energy consumer and important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Estimation of the energy consumption and GHG emissions caused by aluminum production in China has attracted widespread attention because China produces more than half of the global aluminum. This paper conducted life cycle (LC) energy consumption and GHG emissions analysis of primary and recycled aluminum in China for the year 2020, considering the provincial differences on both the scale of self-generated electricity consumed in primary aluminum production and the generation source of grid electricity. Potentials for energy saving and GHG emissions reductions were also investigated. The results indicate that there are 157,207 MJ of primary fossil energy (PE) consumption and 15,947 kg CO2-eq of GHG emissions per ton of primary aluminum ingot production in China, with the LC GHG emissions as high as 1.5–3.5 times that of developed economies. The LC PE consumption and GHG emissions of recycled aluminum are very low, only 7.5% and 5.3% that of primary aluminum, respectively. Provincial-level results indicate that the LC PE and GHG emissions intensities of primary aluminum in the main production areas are generally higher while those of recycled aluminum are lower in the main production areas. LC PE consumption and GHG emissions can be significantly reduced by decreasing electricity consumption, self-generated electricity management, low-carbon grid electricity development, and industrial relocation. Based on this study, policy suggestions for China’s aluminum industry are proposed. Recycled aluminum industry development, restriction of self-generated electricity, low-carbon electricity utilization, and industrial relocation should be promoted as they are highly helpful for reducing the LC PE consumption and GHG emissions of the aluminum industry. In addition, it is recommended that the central government considers the differences among provinces when designing and implementing policies.

Lifecycle performance assessment of fuel cell/battery electric vehicles

Parker Hannifin invests in new production plant in Chennai, India

Magnesium is a promising lightweight and green metallic engineering material, but the environmental impact of primary magnesium production stage, especially greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cannot be ignored. In this study, the life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions caused by the production of primary magnesium in the years of 2003-2013 in China were calculated; the factor decomposition was conducted to analyze the GHG emissions of magnesium production process by using logarithmic mean Divisia index method (LMDI), including energy GHG emission factors, energy structure, energy consumption per ton of primary magnesium, production, emissions per unit of dolomite and ferrosilicon, and dolomite and ferrosilicon consumptions per ton of primary magnesium. The results showed that GHG emissions of primary magnesium production increased 260.29*104 t CO2eq in total from 2003 to 2013. The variety magnesium production contributed the biggest part of GHG emissions, accounting for 418.17%. The energy structure took second place on the contribution of GHG emissions, accounting for-161.49%. The nest part was energy consumption per ton of primary magnesium, accounting for-138.97%. While, the contribution of energy GHG emission factors, emissions per unit of dolomite and ferrosilicon, and dolomite and ferrosilicon consumptions per ton of primary magnesium was relatively small, which were 0.88%, 0.00% -2.72% -4.73% and-11.13%, respectively. Thus, it is the key methods to reduce GHG emissions by optimizing the energy structure and decreasing the energy consumption.

Development and application of an electric vehicles life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions analysis model

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology has the potential to help address economic, environmental, and national security concerns in the United States by reducing operating cost, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and petroleum consumption from the transportation sector. However, the net effects of PHEVs depend critically on vehicle design, battery technology, and charging frequency. To examine these implications, we develop an integrated optimization model utilizing vehicle physics simulation, battery degradation data, and U.S. driving data to determine optimal vehicle design and allocation of vehicles to drivers for minimum life cycle cost, GHG emissions, and petroleum consumption. We find that, while PHEVs with large battery capacity minimize petroleum consumption, a mix of PHEVs sized for 25–40 miles of electric travel produces the greatest reduction in lifecycle GHG emissions. At today’s average US energy prices, battery pack cost must fall below $460/kWh (below $300/kWh for a 10% discount rate) for PHEVs to be cost competitive with ordinary hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Carbon allowance prices have marginal impact on optimal design or allocation of PHEVs even at $100/tonne. We find that the maximum battery swing should be utilized to achieve minimum life cycle cost, GHGs, and petroleum consumption. Increased swing enables greater all-electric range (AER) to be achieved with smaller battery packs, improving cost competitiveness of PHEVs. Hence, existing policies that subsidize battery cost for PHEVs would likely be better tied to AER, rather than total battery capacity.

BackgroundThe availability of feedstock options is a key to meeting the volumetric requirement of 136.3 billion liters of renewable fuels per year beginning in 2022, as required in the US 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. Life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of sorghum-based ethanol need to be assessed for sorghum to play a role in meeting that requirement.ResultsMultiple sorghum-based ethanol production pathways show diverse well-to-wheels (WTW) energy use and GHG emissions due to differences in energy use and fertilizer use intensity associated with sorghum growth and differences in the ethanol conversion processes. All sorghum-based ethanol pathways can achieve significant fossil energy savings. Relative to GHG emissions from conventional gasoline, grain sorghum-based ethanol can reduce WTW GHG emissions by 35% or 23%, respectively, when wet or dried distillers grains with solubles (DGS) is the co-product and fossil natural gas (FNG) is consumed as the process fuel. The reduction increased to 56% or 55%, respectively, for wet or dried DGS co-production when renewable natural gas (RNG) from anaerobic digestion of animal waste is used as the process fuel. These results do not include land-use change (LUC) GHG emissions, which we take as negligible. If LUC GHG emissions for grain sorghum ethanol as estimated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are included (26 g CO2e/MJ), these reductions when wet DGS is co-produced decrease to 7% or 29% when FNG or RNG is used as the process fuel. Sweet sorghum-based ethanol can reduce GHG emissions by 71% or 72% without or with use of co-produced vinasse as farm fertilizer, respectively, in ethanol plants using only sugar juice to produce ethanol. If both sugar and cellulosic bagasse were used in the future for ethanol production, an ethanol plant with a combined heat and power (CHP) system that supplies all process energy can achieve a GHG emission reduction of 70% or 72%, respectively, without or with vinasse fertigation. Forage sorghum-based ethanol can achieve a 49% WTW GHG emission reduction when ethanol plants meet process energy demands with CHP. In the case of forage sorghum and an integrated sweet sorghum pathway, the use of a portion of feedstock to fuel CHP systems significantly reduces fossil fuel consumption and GHG emissions.ConclusionsThis study provides new insight into life-cycle energy use and GHG emissions of multiple sorghum-based ethanol production pathways in the US. Our results show that adding sorghum feedstocks to the existing options for ethanol production could help in meeting the requirements for volumes of renewable, advanced and cellulosic bioethanol production in the US required by the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard program.

A life cycle analysis (LCA) is presented for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil energy use associated with geothermal electricity production with a special focus on operational GHG emissions from hydrothermal flash and dry steam plants. The analysis includes results for both the plant and fuel cycle components of the total life cycle. The impact of recent changes to California's GHG reporting protocol for GHG emissions are discussed by comparing emission rate metrics derived from post and pre revision data sets. These metrics are running capacity weighted average GHG emission rates (g/kWh) and emission rate cumulative distribution functions. To complete our life cycle analysis, plant cycle results were extracted from our previous work and added to fuel cycle results. The resulting life cycle fossil energy and greenhouse gas emissions values are compared among a range of fossil, nuclear, and renewable power technologies, including geothermal.

Mitigating Curtailment and Carbon Emissions through Load Migration between Data Centers

Assessing the effectiveness of building retrofits in reducing GHG emissions: A Canadian school case study

Life cycle assessment of primary energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of four propylene production pathways in China

This study estimates the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production ofMarcellus shale natural gas and compares its emissions with national average US naturalgas emissions produced in the year 2008, prior to any significant Marcellus shaledevelopment. We estimate that the development and completion of a typical Marcellusshale well results in roughly 5500 t of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions or about 1.8 g CO2e/MJ of gas produced, assuming conservative estimates of the production lifetime of a typical well.This represents an 11% increase in GHG emissions relative to average domestic gas (excludingcombustion) and a 3% increase relative to the life cycle emissions when combustion is included.The life cycle GHG emissions of Marcellus shale natural gas are estimated to be 63–75 g CO2e/MJ of gas produced withan average of 68 g CO2e/MJ of gas produced. Marcellus shale natural gas GHG emissions are comparable tothose of imported liquefied natural gas. Natural gas from the Marcellus shale hasgenerally lower life cycle GHG emissions than coal for production of electricity inthe absence of any effective carbon capture and storage processes, by 20–50%depending upon plant efficiencies and natural gas emissions variability. There issignificant uncertainty in our Marcellus shale GHG emission estimates due to eventualproduction volumes and variability in flaring, construction and transportation.

Improving energy and GHG performance of the rice-wheat rotation system: A life-cycle analysis based on a large-scale behavior investigation

Impacts of alternative fuel combustion in cement manufacturing: Life cycle greenhouse gas, biogenic carbon, and criteria air contaminant emissions

The life cycle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production and use of transportation fuels from conventional and unconventional fossil fuel sources in Canada and the USA are investigated. The studied pathways include reformulated gasoline and low sulphur diesel produced from oil sands, oil shale, coal and natural gas, as well as reference pathways from conventional crude oil. comparison of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) completed for these fuels indicates considerable uncertainty in these emissions, illustrating the need for further LCAs with particular attention to completeness and transparency. Based on the considered studies, only one unconventional pathway has better GHG emissions performance than the conventional pathways: Fischer-Tropsch diesel from natural gas. However, the limitations of the data used here and other factors that may restrict a switch to natural gas must be considered. Furthermore, there are considerable opportunities to reduce emissions from the unconventional pathways. There is significant potential to produce liquid transportation fuels from unconventional Canadian and US fossil sources. However, to avoid significant increases in GHG emissions, the life cycle GHG implications of almost all pathways will need to be reduced to respond to upcoming regulatory initiatives and to move towards a more sustainable transportation sector.