Life Cycle Assessment of Sensible, Latent and Thermochemical Thermal Energy Storage Systems for Climate Change Mitigation – A Systematic Review

Abstract

Renewable energy sources coupled with thermal energy storage (TES) systems offer a better hope in mitigating climate change. But, in order to integrate TES systems into the grid, it is important to understand their environmental performances. Life cycle assessment (LCA) serves as a leading methodological tool for environmental decision-making processes that allows one to identify the critical areas of improvement in a product life cycle, and hence can be used effectively in climate change mitigation strategies. Due to the scarcity of review articles that provide useful information on the LCAs of TES systems, a total of 23 papers were reviewed in this study. These were reviewed under three categories: sensible heat storage (SHS) systems, latent heat storage (LHS) systems, and thermochemical heat storage (THS) systems. Further, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from TES systems were evaluated, giving special attention on the global warming potential impact category. The production stage was found to be the major contributor to GWP in all three TES systems. Following this review study, it can be concluded that the environmental performance can be greatly enhanced through TES systems, due to significant reductions in GHG emissions.