Environmental Impacts Of Renewable Energy Research Articles

Future directions in geological research impacting renewable energy and carbon capture: A synthesis of sustainable management techniques

Geological research plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of renewable energy and carbon capture initiatives, offering insights into sustainable management techniques. This review synthesizes the future directions in geological research that impact renewable energy and carbon capture, focusing on sustainable management techniques. Future geological research will increasingly focus on enhancing the integration of renewable energy sources into existing energy systems. This includes the development of innovative geological mapping techniques to identify and characterize renewable energy resources with greater precision, aiding in the selection of optimal sites for energy production. Additionally, there will be a growing emphasis on utilizing geological data to assess the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, particularly in volcanic regions, where the unique geological characteristics offer potential for efficient carbon sequestration. Another key aspect of future geological research is the advancement of monitoring and modeling techniques to evaluate the long-term performance and environmental impact of renewable energy and CCS projects. This includes the use of advanced geophysical and geochemical methods to monitor subsurface changes associated with energy extraction and carbon storage, ensuring the effectiveness and safety of these practices. Furthermore, future research will explore the potential of geological formations, such as deep saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs, for large-scale carbon storage. This will involve developing strategies to enhance storage capacity and mitigate the risk of CO2 leakage, contributing to the sustainable management of carbon emissions. In conclusion, future geological research will play a critical role in advancing renewable energy and carbon capture technologies, offering sustainable management techniques that are essential for addressing climate change. By focusing on innovative mapping, monitoring, and modeling approaches, researchers can pave the way for a more sustainable energy future.

Social Acceptance and Social, Economic, and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy - A Case Study from Hanimaadhoo Island, Maldives

Social acceptance particularly public opposition on renewable energy have been key obstacles for renewable energy deployment in many developed nations particularly in Europe. The level of awareness of the situation in the global south, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), was rather limited. This research utilizes Cultural Theory as a framework, incorporating data obtained from household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussion and individual interviews conducted on Hanimaadhoo island in the Maldives. The objective is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals’ worldviews influence their opinions and behaviors regarding renewable energy. This study also aims to comprehend the anticipated social, economic, and environmental impacts of renewable energy. The authors highlight key findings from a local perspective that they deem crucial to consider for the future deployment and diffusion of renewable energy in the Maldives

Social Acceptance and Social, Economic, and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy - A Case Study from Hanimaadhoo Island, Maldives

Social acceptance particularly public opposition on renewable energy have been key obstacles for renewable energy deployment in many developed nations particularly in Europe. The level of awareness of the situation in the global south, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), was rather limited. This research utilizes Cultural Theory as a framework, incorporating data obtained from household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussion and individual interviews conducted on Hanimaadhoo island in the Maldives. The objective is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals’ worldviews influence their opinions and behaviors regarding renewable energy. This study also aims to comprehend the anticipated social, economic, and environmental impacts of renewable energy. The authors highlight key findings from a local perspective that they deem crucial to consider for the future deployment and diffusion of renewable energy in the Maldives

Time Limit of Environmental Benefits of Renewable Energy Power Projects—Analysis Based on Monte Carlo Simulation

The supply of green electricity certificates (GECs) exceeds the demand, leading to companies being more willing to purchase GECs to meet their emission reduction obligations. However, concerns have been raised about the environmental impact of renewable energy (RE) projects labeled as “greenwashing”. Drawing on the “additionality” theory, we developed a cost model with construction, operation, and discount rates. We utilized cost data from China’s onshore wind and photovoltaic power generation in our study. After 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations, we made the following findings: (1) The environmental benefits of RE power generation diminish over time, and the time limit for judging whether RE projects have additional costs compared with traditional thermal power should be considered; (2) The time limit for marginal environmental effects of China’s onshore wind and photovoltaic power generation is estimated to be 7.65–10.78 years and 5.44–7.25 years, respectively. The analysis methods and ideas proposed in this paper can provide reference for the development of the GEC system in China and even other countries.

The environmental impact of renewable energy

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to ascertain the environmental impact of renewable energy sources. Methodology: The research combines a pragmatist epistemology and an exploratory, inductive technique. Using the United Kingdom as a case study, the study collects primary data on participants' perspectives, perceptions, and attitudes regarding the connection between renewable energy sources and the environment through a self-administered survey (with 400 subjects) and in-depth interviews (sample size 25). Findings: Participants expressed worry about climate change and a keen understanding of the favourable effects of renewable energy sources on the environment, particularly in terms of pollution reduction, global warming reduction, and climate change mitigation. Practical Implications - The primary rationale for increased calls for the transition away from non-renewable energy sources is the desire to mitigate their negative environmental implications. Renewable energy sources must be expanded to meet this goal. Additional study is needed to identify viable policy pathways for accelerating the transition to renewable energy. Originality: To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this is the first study combining self-administered survey with 400 subjects and in-depth interviews with 25 subjects in the United Kingdom on the public's perspective of renewable energy, its status of development, hurdles, and role in mitigating global warming and climate change.

The potential of aquatic weed as a resource for sustainable bioenergy sources and bioproducts production

Developing carbon-neutral bioenergy sources and bioproducts is an extraordinary opportunity for achieving an environmentally friendly economy. However, the overconsumption of resources in bioenergy and bioproduct production causes severe environmental concerns. The green biorefinery concept is one of the most attractive solutions for sustainably producing bioenergy sources and bioproducts. Seaweed is well-known as a promising green resource for biorefineries. Biorefineries based on seaweed not only produce various products but can also help solve macroalgal bloom issues. Nevertheless, a comprehensive environmental investigation should be performed before implementing seaweed-based biorefineries. Thus, using an environmental life cycle assessment, the current study examines three seaweed-based biorefineries. These scenarios include biogas production and waste valorization (Sc-1), bioethanol production and waste valorization (Sc-2), and biogas + bioethanol production and waste valorization (Sc-3). The results indicate that all the proposed scenarios offer environmentally friendly solutions for utilizing seaweed as a source of bioenergy and bioproducts. Sc-1 demonstrates the best environmental performance compared to the other two scenarios. Specifically, Sc-1 achieves a 99% and 97% reduction in total weighted environmental impact compared to Sc-2 and Sc-3, respectively. This finding is attributed to the avoidance of mineral fertilizers in Sc-1, resulting in a significant reduction in environmental impact. The electricity generation based on Sc-1 results in 1.91E-08 DALY/MJ of damage to human health and 1.65E-03 PDF.m2.yr/MJ of damage to ecosystem quality. Furthermore, the net weighted environmental impact of electricity generation based on Sc-1 results in 1.65E-03 EUR2003/MJ of damage, compared to 1.07E-01 EUR2003/MJ for grid electricity in the region. Therefore, replacing grid electricity with electricity generated from biogas in Sc-1 can reduce 98% of environmental damage.

Revisiting the environmental impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth: CO2 emissions versus ecological footprint for top remittance-receiving countries.

The study examined the impact of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, remittances, and economic growth on environmental degradation from the perspective of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and ecological footprint for the top 50 remittance-receiving countries for 1991-2018. This study simulates the environmental future for attaining the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) using the latest datasets. This study is one of the few that empirically explores how various explanatory variables affect CO2 and ecological footprint. The study employed the pool mean group autoregressive distributive lag (PMG-ARDL), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) techniques for the analysis. In the long-run, non-renewable energy and economic growth have a positive impact, whereas renewable energy and remittances have a negative impact on CO2 and ecological footprint. The impact of non-renewable energy on CO2 and ecological footprint is more significant than renewable energy in both the short- and long-run. Most of the variables have a bidirectional causality among each other. This highlights the need for a paradigm shift towards renewable energy in the top recipients specifically for developing countries.

Methodology for renewable energy risk assessment applied to photovoltaic systems in Mexico

Due to the increase in demand for electricity, global warming and energy sustainability, there has been a significant increase in the use of renewable energy technologies. This can be seen in reports from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which in 2018 reported a total world electricity generation capacity of 2,356,346 MW with technologies based on these energy sources. These data constitute a sustained annual growth over the last five years of between 8 and 9 % (IRENA, 2019, p. 2). Therefore, the use of these technologies is a strategy adopted worldwide to reduce both the dependence on fossil fuels and the environmental impact of electricity generation.

The Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Production in New York State from Distributed Solar Photovoltaic Systems

New York State’s (NYS) Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) requires that 100% of the state’s electricity supply be greenhouse gas emissions-free by 2040 and that 6000 megawatts (MW) of solar energy must be installed in NYS by 2025. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impact of electricity generation from New York State distributed solar photovoltaic systems. This cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) follows the International Standardization Organization (ISO) framework for LCA, including the goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. The study is based on operational data from 120 existing solar installations. Global Warming Potential varies substantially by site, with the minimum and maximum impact values varying from 25.2 to 88.5 gCO2eq/kWh, and with a mean of 45.6 gCO2eq/kWh. Regression analysis shows this range is attributable to differences in site location, capacity factor, and system design (i.e., monocrystalline and polycrystalline panels, area power ratio). Based on absolute percentage, the inclusion of the end-of-life process reduces the total environmental impact from 2% in Ozone Depletion to 16% in Acidification, indicating a positive impact of engaging in end-of-life management across all categories. This analysis can help policymakers understand the implications of the solar PV installation mandate.

A review on life cycle assessment approach on thermal power generation

The global population is predicted to reach 9.9 billion people in 2050, with 80% of the population living in developing countries. As the world's population grows, the demand for electricity also increases. In most developing nations, coal is the most important source of energy. The environmental impacts of coal-based electricity generation are a key concern for long-term sustainability and hence an intensively studied topic in many nations. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method has been widely used around the world to assess the environmental impact of electricity generation. Because the results of LCA are generally dependent on geographical location, they must be carried out for a specific location. In the Indian context, there are still gaps to be addressed in this area. This review is part of the baseline research for a comprehensive LCA analysis of India's coal-fired power facilities. A literature analysis of a variety of worldwide studies is conducted with a focus on understanding the LCA technique and environmental assessment. The findings of the analysis demonstrate that, while prior LCA studies have proven useful, no comprehensive LCA on coal-fired power plants in India has yet been completed. As a result, the objective of this research is to undertake a systematic review of LCA studies conducted on coal-based thermal power plant operations, emissions mitigation strategies, and transmission and distribution. The paper also discusses the methodology adopted by the researchers and the results of the LCA of thermal power plants in the Indian context.

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Refrigerator Modelled with Application of Various Electricity Mixes and Technologies

Improving national electricity mixes and increasing a share of renewable energy covered by credible and reliable tracking systems are vital topics, also in a context of life cycle assessment. There are many publications devoted to the relevance of energy in the life cycle of products, but only few LCA examples applying residual mixes have been found in the literature. The paper presents the results of an LCA study for a refrigerator calculated with using different electricity mixes and technologies. The life cycle was divided into eight stages and the electricity consumption was modelled as renewable energy, national residual mix, or national supplier mix. Electricity mixes for three different countries were selected and used. The study aimed to answer the following questions: “what are the most relevant elements in the life cycle of the analysed refrigerator?”, “do the elements change if various electricity mixes are applied?”, and “what differences are there in the environmental impact of electricity generation modelled as residual and supplier mixes?”. From the life cycle perspective, not only may differences in national electricity systems between countries turn out to be important, but equally significant may be the choice between different types of mixes for a certain country.

Environmental Impact and Levelised Cost of Energy Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic Systems in Selected Asia Pacific Region: A Cradle-to-Grave Approach

Sustainability has been greatly impacted by the reality of budgets and available resources as a targeted range of carbon emission reduction greatly increases due to climate change. This study analyses the technical and economic feasibility for three types of solar photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy (RE) systems; (i) solar stand-alone, a non-grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (ii) solar rooftop, a grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (iii) solar farm, a grid-connected land-mounted structure in three tropical climate regions. Technical scientific and economic tools, including life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) with an integrated framework from a Malaysian case study were applied to similar climatic regions, Thailand, and Indonesia. The short-term, future scaled-up scenario was defined using a proxy technology and estimated data. Environmental locations for this scenario were identified, the environmental impacts were compared, and the techno-economic output were analysed. The scope of this study is cradle-to-grave. Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) was greatly affected due to PV performance degradation rate, especially the critical shading issues for large-scale installations. Despite the land use impact, increased CO2 emissions accumulate over time with regard to energy mix of the country, which requires the need for long-term procurement of both carbon and investment return. With regards to profitably, grid-connected roof-mounted systems achieve the lowest LCOE as compared to other types of installation, ranging from 0.0491 USD/kWh to 0.0605 USD/kWh under a 6% discounted rate. A simple payback (SPB) time between 7–10 years on average depends on annual power generated by the system with estimated energy payback of 0.40–0.55 years for common polycrystalline photovoltaic technology. Thus, maintaining the whole system by ensuring a low degradation rate of 0.2% over a long period of time is essential to generate benefits for both investors and the environment. Emerging technologies are progressing at an exponential rate in order to fill the gap of establishing renewable energy as an attractive business plan. Life cycle assessment is considered an excellent tool to assess the environmental impact of renewable energy.

Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy in Egypt (Review article)

Egyptian rapidly growing population and establishing energy-intensive industrialfacilities demanded large supply of power to maintain that growth. Egypt is a countrywell suited for alternative energy production. It has strong, steady wind, good solarenergy and the hydrothermal resources from the Nile. The government decided toimprove the diversity of energy by embracing opportunities from renewable sources assolar and wind in the energy mix, to bring the balance back to Egypt’s energy market.Environmental impact assessment (EIA) , should be considered in all stages startingfrom planning, site selection, type of technology used, and installing phase. Life cycleassessment tool is used as a method to know the average environmental impact ofdifferent renewable energy source for appropriate planning and proper decision making.This showed the importance of generating awareness towards environmental impact ofvarious renewable energy systems.

Biodeterioration Affecting Efficiency and Lifetime of Plastic-Based Photovoltaics

Summary The low environmental impact of electricity generation using solar cells crucially depends on high energy-conversion efficiencies, long lifetimes, and a minimal energy and material demand during production. Emerging thin-film photovoltaics such as perovskites on plastic substrates could hold promises to fulfill all these requirements. Under real-world operating conditions, photovoltaic operation is challenged by biological stressors, which have not been incorporated for evaluation in any test. Such stressors cause biodeterioration, which impairs diverse, apparently inert materials such as rock, glass, and steel and therefore could significantly affect the function and stability of plastic-based solar cells. Given that different photovoltaic technologies commonly use similar materials, the biodeterioration mechanisms reviewed here may possibly affect the efficiency and lifetimes of several technologies if they occur sufficiently faster (during the expected lifetime of photovoltaics). Once the physical integrity of uppermost module layers is challenged by biofilm growth, microbially mediated dissolution and precipitation reactions of photovoltaic functional materials are very likely to occur. The biodeterioration of substrates and seals also represents emission points for the release of potentially harmful photovoltaic constituents to the environment.

Resource Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of a Grid-Connected Solar PV-Wind Hybrid System for Different Locations in Saudi Arabia

The economic growth and demographic progression in Saudi Arabia increased spending on the development of conventional power plants to meet the national energy demand. The conventional generation and continued use of fossil fuels as the main source of electricity will raise the operational environmental impact of electricity generation. Therefore, using different renewable energy sources might be a solution to this issue. In this study, a grid-connected solar PV-wind hybrid energy system has been designed considering an average community load demand of 15,000 kWh/day and a peak load of 2395 kW. HOMER software is used to assess the potential of renewable energy resources and perform the technical and economic analyses of the grid-connected hybrid system. The meteorological data was collected from the Renewable Resources Atlas developed by the King Abdullah City of Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). Four different cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, namely, the cities of Riyadh, Hafar Albatin, Sharurah, and Yanbu were selected to do the analyses. The simulation results show that the proposed system is economically and environmentally feasible at Yanbu city. The system at this city has the lowest net present cost (NPC) and levelized the cost of energy (LCOE), highest total energy that can be sold to the grid, as well as the lowest CO2 emissions due to a highly renewable energy penetration. This grid-connected hybrid system with the proposed configuration is applicable for similar meteorological and environmental conditions in the region, and around the world. Reduction of some greenhouse gasses as well as the reduction of energy costs are main contributors of this research.

The Environmental Impact of Electricity Generation: Agent-Based Modeling of Residential Solar Adoption.

The Environmental Impact of Electricity Generation: Agent-Based Modeling of Residential Solar Adoption.

Advanced exergoenvironmental evaluation for a coal-fired power plant of near-zero air pollutant emission

Advanced exergy and exergoenvironmental analyses based on life cycle assessment (LCA) are conducted to an SCPP with and without dust, SO2 and NOX mitigation controls. The analyses show that environmental impacts of components are mainly caused by exergy destruction while combustion chamber (COM) still has great potential to reduce pollutant environmental impact reduced by 99.5% by near-zero air pollutant emission standards. Avoidable environmental impact within each component is endogenous other than most regenerative feedwater heaters. COM has the largest environmental impact of exergy destruction but lower avoidable part compared with superheat transfer (SH) including boiling process. Reheat transfer (RH) shows similar avoidable environmental impact but less exergy destruction in contrast with COM. Turbines play well in exergy efficiency and over 50% of environmental impact within intermediate-pressure turbine (IP) can be avoided. Air preheater (APH) displays a higher avoidable environmental impact than condenser (CND) albeit lower exergy destruction. Pumps and fans have small environmental impacts with over 45% can be avoided. Most environmental impact related to pollutant formation is avoidable and endogenous except for wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) which imposes a negative environmental impact on other components. The specific environmental impact of electricity generation is higher than European.

STAKEHOLDER OPINION-BASED COMPARISON OF LIFE CYCLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN TURKEY WITH SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The life cycle environmental impacts of electricity generation in Turkey were compared to those of Denmark, France, and Poland. The reason for selecting these particular countries for benchmarking was the fact that electricity generation in these countries is dominated mostly by a single source, that is wind, nuclear, and coal, respectively. OpenLCA software and European Life Cycle Database database were used, CML2001 method was employed. The life cycle analysis approach was from cradle to grave. The environmental impact criteria which were studied were acidification, global warming potential, depletion of abiotic resources – elements, depletion of abiotic resources - fossil fuels, eutrophication, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, human toxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, ozone layer depletion, photochemical oxidation, and terrestrial ecotoxicity. In addition to comparing the four countries in terms of these individual impacts, the overall environmental impact scores for all countries were calculated, once with equal weights for all impacts and once with weights which were determined by acquiring the stakeholder opinions via an online questionnaire. In both cases, Poland turned out to have the highest environmental impact due to the high share coal in the electricity mix, and Turkey came second after Poland. Equal-weight-analysis returned Denmark as the country with the cleanest electricity generation infrastructure whereas stakeholder-weight-analysis results showed that it was France who had the lowest environmental impact. This result was attributed to the high weight of global warming potential and France’s nuclear-energy-based electricity generation system has a very low global warming potential when compared to other three countries. It was concluded that the prospective addition of nuclear energy, solar energy, and clean coal technologies into Turkey’s electricity mix shall reduce the overall environmental impact of electricity generation in Turkey significantly.

Microalgae cofiring in coal power plants: Innovative system layout and energy analysis

This paper investigates the smart integration of a 500 ha microalgae culturing facility with a large scale coal power plant (758.6 MWe): a fraction of the CO2 contained in the coal plant flue gases is used for the algal cultivation, a fraction of the low-temperature flue gas heat available is used for the biomass drying, finally the produced biomass is co-fired in the coal plant. The produced algal biomass represents approximately 1% of the boiler heat input.Through the solution of energy and mass balances of each plant component, the overall system performances in terms of net energy ratio (NER) and CO2 emissions reduction are obtained. The computed NER (1.92) guarantees an energy harvest almost twice the energetic cost needed to produce the microalgal fuel. The total CO2 emissions are reduced of approximately 0.48%, identifying microalgae cofiring as a solution able to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation. A simplified economic analysis has allowed an estimate of the algal system investment cost (about 235 k€ ha−1) and of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) (554.4 € MWh−1). A set of sensitivity analyses is finally performed to investigate the influence of the initial hypotheses on the results.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM BIOGAS IN PALESTINE

In Palestine, the energy situation is unique compared to other Middle Eastern Countries, as there are technical and political challenges for transporting, storing, importing and exporting energy. Actually, energy import from Israel meets the major share of Palestinian energy needs. Palestinian reliance on Israel concerning its energy supply is an issue due to the political situation. Furthermore, from an environmental point of view, Israel predominantly relies on fossil fuels for its own electricity production; therefore, renewable energy production in Palestine can represent a solution to environmental concerns. With regard to electricity (EE) generation, Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of biomass and/or Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) can be a particularly suitable solution when realized in small and local plants. In this study, the environmental impact of electricity generation from two Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants in Palestine was evaluated, using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. In both of them, the produced biogas is used to feed a CHP engine and the generated electricity is put into the grid. The first pilot plant, located in Dura (Governatorate of Hebron), is fed with animal manure and other urban waste; the second is in Bethlehem and mainly fed with OFMSW. For both AD plants, the results show that: 1) the produced EE has a lower environmental impact respect to that imported from Israel, 2) the main environmental hotspots are: digestate emissions, electricity and diesel consumption and emissions from biogas combustion.