No abstract

In recent years, the offshore wind power industry has been growing dynamically. A key element which decides upon power output of a wind power plant is blades. They are most frequently produced from polymers – laminates with epoxy resins and fiberglass. In the near future, when the blade life cycles are over, large amounts of waste material of this type will have to be reused. This paper presents a comparison analysis of the impact of particular material existence cycle stages of land-based and offshore wind power plant blades on the environment. Two wind power plant blades, of about 49 m in length each, were examined using the LCA method, the programme SimaPro, and Ekowskaźnik 99 modelling (phase LCIA).

Currently, electric vehicles are a rapidly growing alternative to those with combustion engines and can contribute to reduction of CO2 emissions in the transport sector, especially when the energy to power electric motors is predominantly derived from renewable sources. Until now, the comparison of environmental impact and influence of electric transport means on the power systems was not fully addressed in the case of Poland. The purpose of the study is to describe, analyse and assess electric vehicles (EV) operation against performance indicators in Poland, especially the influence of electric transport means (ETM) (electric cars, trams, trolley buses and buses) on power system and environment. The influence on the power system was investigated for the Polish National Powers system using the simulation of different scenarios of loads generated by EV charging. The energy demand of the National Power System and daily load variability indices were determined. Based on the data of ETM powers consumption and emissions of energy production, the emissions of harmful gases per one km and per one person were calculated, as well as the financial outlays for energy necessary to drive 1 km per 1 passenger. To assess and compare the environmental impact of the selected ETM life cycle, the life cycle assessment method was used. The results of environmental impacts were determined for selected assessment methods: CML 2 and IPCC 2013 GWP 100. The functional unit in this study is one selected ETM with a service life of 100,000 km. Comparison of trams, trolley buses, buses and electric passenger cars indicates that most beneficial are electric buses which do not need rails or overhead lines, thus investment costs are lower.

Due to energy efficiency improvement requirements, street lighting system operators tend to reduce the electricity consumed by the lights themselves, and also minimize losses in the system. Smart lighting control systems are commonly used for this purpose. An important aspect of electricity power and quality issues is the higher harmonics content in street lighting system current, which was the subject of experimental research the results of which were presented in this paper.