Life-cycle assessment of electricity in Portugal

Abstract:The aim of this paper was to determine how to change the environmental performance of electricity generation depending on the resources and their shares, in order to support decision-makers. Additionally, this paper presents an application of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to determine the environmental burdens of electricity generation in Turkey. Electricity generation data in Turkey for the years 2012 and 2023 were used as a case study. The functional unit for electricity generation was 1 kWh. The LCA calculations were carried out using CML-IA (v3.00) data and the results were interpreted with respect to Monte Carlo simulation analysis (with the Monte Carlo function built in SimaPro 8.0.1 software). The results demonstrated that the fossil fuel consumption not only contributes to global warming, but it also has effects on the elemental basis of abiotic depletion due to raw material consumption for plant infrastructure. Additionally, it was observed that the increasing proportion of wind power in the electricity mix would also increase certain life cycle impacts (such as the elemental basis of abiotic depletion, human ecotoxicity, and terrestrial ecotoxicity) in Turkey's geography compared to increasing the share of other renewable energy sources, such as hydropower, geothermal, as well as solar.

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“…Garcia et al [15] Portugal Coal, fuel, oil, natural gas, hydro, wind, waste incineration, biogas and photovoltaic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Performance of Electricity Generation Based on Resources: A Life Cycle Assessment Case Study in Turkey

et al. 2016

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“…Life-cycle inventories compiled in [26] for the Portuguese electricity system are used here. Electricity trading with Spain was not accounted for as the net transfer amounts to a few percent of total Portuguese consumption in most years, corresponding to an even smaller proportion of supply in Spain.…”

Section: Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…GHG emissions were assessed using technology life-cycle emission factors for Portugal [26], excluding infrastructure impacts (coal PP: 1006 kg CO 2 eq·MWh −1 ; NGCC: 420 kg CO 2 eq·MWh −1 ). The marginal emission factor corresponds to the slope of a linear regression of ∆E on ∆G, as plotted in Figure 3.…”

Section: Determining Marginal Electricity Supply and Ghg Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marginal Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Electricity Generation in Portugal and Implications for Electric Vehicles

Garcia

Freire

2016

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This article assesses marginal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of electricity generation in Portugal to understand the impact of activities that affect electricity demand in the near term. In particular, it investigates the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) in the Portuguese light-duty fleet considering different displacement and charging scenarios (vehicle technologies displaced, EV charging time). Coal and natural gas were identified as the marginal energy sources, but their contribution to the margin depended on the hour of the day, time of year, and system load, causing marginal emissions from electricity to vary significantly. Results show that for an electricity system with a high share of non-dispatchable renewable power, such as the Portuguese system, marginal emissions are considerably higher than average emissions. Because of the temporal variability in the marginal electricity supply, the time of charging may have a major influence on the GHG emissions of EVs. Off-peak charging leads to higher GHG emissions than peak charging, due to a higher contribution of coal to the margin. Furthermore, compared to an all-conventional fleet, EV introduction causes an increase in overall GHG emissions in most cases. However, EV effects are very dependent on the time of charging and the assumptions about the displaced technology.

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“…Harrison and colleagues [20] and Blackett and colleagues [21] study electricity transmission in Britain; Bumby and colleagues [22] study electricity distribution in California; Turconi and colleagues [23] study electricity T&D in Denmark; Arvesen and colleagues [13] a North Sea submarine transmission grid; and Garcia and colleagues [24] electricity generation and T&D in Portugal. Jorge and colleagues present assessments of electricity grid components [25,26] and scale up inventories to assess Norwegian [27] and European [10] transmission networks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To our knowledge, [23] and [24] are the only LCA studies to date to study transmission and distribution in one coherent assessment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of transport of electricity via different voltage levels: A case study for Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway

et al. 2015

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Life-cycle assessment of electricity in Portugal

Cited by 123 publications

References 30 publications

Environmental Performance of Electricity Generation Based on Resources: A Life Cycle Assessment Case Study in Turkey

Environmental Performance of Electricity Generation Based on Resources: A Life Cycle Assessment Case Study in Turkey

Marginal Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Electricity Generation in Portugal and Implications for Electric Vehicles

Life cycle assessment of transport of electricity via different voltage levels: A case study for Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway

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