Integrated Sustainability Assessment: Exergy, Emergy, Life Cycle Assessment

Cano, Natalia; Cabezas, Heriberto; Krisztián, Baracza

doi:10.3389/frsus.2022.921874

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Chang et al [59] have categorized thirty different techniques. Moreover, sustainability indicators and composite indexes are increasingly recognized as a useful tool for policy making and public communication in conveying information on country and corporate performance in areas such as the environment, economy, society, and technological advancement; a comprehensive review of these has been conducted in the studies [60,61]. The critical review of Walzberg et al [62] defines methodologies based on six criteria: temporal resolution, scope, data needs, data granularity, the ability to measure material efficiency potentials, and sustainability completeness.…”

Section: Other Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Selicati¹,

Cardinale²

2023

JSE

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The modelling of complex technological systems serves as the foundation for enhancing process performance, including sustainability features (triple-bottom line). The European Green Deal, proposed in 2019, aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and foster a resource-independent economy. Such a change must be carefully planned. Comprehensive sustainability protocols and guidelines are necessary to describe the standardized methodological procedure, the environmental certification procedures that allow market comparability and identification of the best solutions, the databases, the calculation tools and software, and the benchmark and target with which to make comparison. Policies and regulatory or incentive instruments promote the broad adoption of these approaches and ensure that policies reduce environmental, economic, and social impacts. This paper consists in an overview of sustainability assessment tools' role in energy policy and shortand long-term modeling of more eco-friendly energy-product systems. Additionally, the paper explores these methods' pros and cons in planning, analyzing, and optimizing energy/product systems, also according to the circular economy paradigm. All of these strategies aim to help the decision-maker make more consistent judgments by taking into consideration essential objective, such as end user or stakeholder demands, and minimizing subjective elements. An extensive listing of Sustainability accreditation and communication tools is provided. Sustainability assessment is an evaluation and optimization method that promotes sustainable development in all political planning and decision-making. It examines the social, economic, and environmental effects, finds conflicting goals, and recommends early optimization. Potentially, sustainability assessment should be integrated into the political planning process and depend on domain-specific research and assessments that currently exist or are planned, such as in combination with decision-making. Sustainability assessment is not designed to be an extra analytical tool. A sector-specific environmental or economic study from a strategic environmental analysis or regulatory effect analysis may be crucial to a sustainability assessment.

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Section: Other Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Selicati¹,

Cardinale²

2023

JSE

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“…Uranium is rarely affected by fuel cost fluctuations due to the ease and hence practice of stockpiling uranium and less frequent refueling with most Pressurized Water Reactors changing fuel for a quarter to a third of their fuel loading for every one and a half to two years. It is a common practice for uranium fuel suppliers to bear the cost of short-term fluctuations in world uranium prices instead of power plant operators except for long-term price trends which affect the final price of nuclear power generation (Cano-Londoño et al, 2022).…”

Section: Operations and Maintenance (Oandm) Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electricity Generation Costs by Technology

Kabeyi¹,

Olanrewaju²

2023

Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

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The cost of power generation and related technology is an important dimension of energy sustainability since it affects the final price of electricity, choice of technology mix and overall sustainability of the power system. Levelized cost is a simple metric hence widely used to compute the unit cost of power generated from power generation technologies. Limitation of the metric includes lack of consideration for key parameters like inflation, power integration costs, and system costs whose integration would provide a more comprehensive metric for evaluating power generation projects, and the entire power system. The study showed that the Levelized costs of electricity generation for the low carbon technologies have reduced significantly and are now cost competitive with the conventional fossil fuel generation technologies although specific costs are country specific. It was demonstrated that large solar power plants supply cheaper power compared to onshore wind, coal power plants and natural gas power, although it may vary in some factors based on local condition since various factors affect the cost of generation from one place to another. The capital cost of power plants varies widely based on technology as well as within same technology. Fuel cells have the highest capital cost among power plants investigated followed by offshore wind and advanced nuclear power plants. Gas turbines have some of the lowest capital costs. noted that the average price of unit cost of renewable sources namely small PV, largescale PV, onshore and offshore wind as well as biogas has been on a declining trend over the last decade. On the other hand, the average unit price of fossil fuel sources i.e., natural gas, hard coal and lignite coal has been growing. Nuclear, which is a clean non fossil fuel experienced growth in unit price of power which may affect its competitiveness in the energy transition.

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“…Assessment tools like the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Exergy Analysis (ExA), and Emergy Analysis (EmA) are used to account for sustainability indicators in social, environmental, and economic, dimensions, and hence are applied to carry out assessments under these three dimensions (Cano-Londoño et al, 2022). Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic approach applied in evaluating the environmental impacts of products and systems through their entire life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conventional and Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment Process and Applications of

Kabeyi¹,

Olanrewaju²

2023

Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

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This study presents the life cycle assessment of various power generation technologies based. The assessments cover impacts from extraction, processing and transportation of fuels, construction of power plants and power generation. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) to power generation technologies is very useful as the world seeks ways to meet growing electricity demand with less health and environmental impacts. LCA is an evolving methodology with several barriers and challenges but has helped in improving the understanding of the lifecycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions, and water-use implications to power generation. The application of LCA tools facilitates an analytically thorough and environmentally holistic approach in assessment and comparison of power generation technologies. Most LCAs show that the best power plants are hydropower, both run-of-river and with reservoir, nuclear energy, and wind power. Fuel combustion directly leads to emissions and potential environmental harm. The cradle-to-grave approach considers all steps between material and fuel extraction from the environment until they are returned to the environment. The methodology used in lifecycle assessment (LCA) includes the effects of all the production phases, use and recycling on the environment. The complete LCA involves factors like water and air pollution, and noise. Exergy which is the maximum useful work that can be extracted from a system as it reversibly comes into equilibrium is used in various fields such as industrial ecology and environmental engineering, for efficient use of energy and to minimize harmful environmental impacts. Exergy analysis has been in application since the late 1990s and is extended into the realm of resource and environmental analysis, to develop integrated analytical frameworks. Exergy analysis can be used in decision-making by policy makers in making sustainable choices.

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Integrated Sustainability Assessment: Exergy, Emergy, Life Cycle Assessment

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Electricity Generation Costs by Technology

Conventional and Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment Process and Applications of

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