Uncertainties related to the identification of the marginal energy technology in consequential life cycle assessments

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Münster, Marie; Fruergaard, Thilde

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2009.04.009

Cited by 165 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This trend is the same when RES generation consequences are analyzed for above and below Quebec average conditions (i.e., sensitivity analysis). Referring to the results in Table 5, it is worth noting that marginal electricity production is not solely based on one marginal technology but on a complex set able to meet the hourly demand, which is in agreement with recent findings on the complex set using the long-term perspective [15,50]. No consequences refer to the percentage of hours when no electricity production is affected (i.e., no marginal technology) because of the absence of RES generation.…”

Section: Hourly Marginal Electricity Production Technology In Each Qusupporting

confidence: 87%

Implications of integrating electricity supply dynamics into life cycle assessment: A case study of renewable distributed generation

et al. 2014

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Electricity supply is frequently cited as a significant hot spot in life cycle assessment (LCA) results. Despite its importance, however, LCA research continues to overuse simplified methodologies regarding electricity supply modeling. This work aims to demonstrate the usefulness of electricity trade analysis (proposed model) for integrating the short-term dynamics of electricity supply and refining LCA results. Distributed generation using renewable energy is applied as a case study to demonstrate how electricity trade analysis provides more refined estimates when environmental impact abatements are assessed compared with the conventional (simplified) approaches in LCA. Grid-connected photovoltaic panel (3 kWp monoand poly-crystalline) and micro-wind turbine (1, 10 and 30 kW) environmental impact abatements are investigated by determining the displaced marginal electricity production on an hourly basis. The results indicate that environmental impact abatements calculated using the developed short-term time horizon approach can be significantly different (up to 200% difference) from those obtained using a simplified approach. Recommendations are provided to LCA practitioners to address this issue of differing results.

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Section: Hourly Marginal Electricity Production Technology In Each Qusupporting

confidence: 87%

Implications of integrating electricity supply dynamics into life cycle assessment: A case study of renewable distributed generation

et al. 2014

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“…The results of these studies were all highly dependent on the thermal efficiency of the energy recovery process and the conventional fuel displaced by the recovery process. Mathiesen et al (2009) discussed some of the issues in identifying the ''marginal technology'' (the energy production technology or technologies displaced by the EfW) and noted that making the selection was a complex process which should be subject to sensitivity analysis when performing LCA studies. Kaplan et al's (2009) LCA of EfW and landfill in the USA selected 1 MW h of electrical power production rather than mass of waste managed as the functional unit.…”

Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A key factor influencing the results of waste LCA studies is the assumption made about the ''marginal energy'' -the fuel for the conventional power and heat displaced by the waste management system -as pointed out by Mathiesen et al (2009). This marginal energy is best defined as the electricity and heat that are taken offline when the waste-derived energy is available.…”

Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cleary observed that none of the studies carried out any sensitivity analysis. Mathiesen et al (2009) reviewed a number of historical LCAs and concluded that, in hindsight, the assumed marginal fuel turned out to be incorrect. They concluded that LCA studies where energy was significant should be subject to sensitivity analysis using a range of marginal energy technologies based on different future scenarios regarding fossil and renewable resource usage and CHP use.…”

Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors influencing the life cycle burdens of the recovery of energy from residual municipal waste

Burnley

Coleman²,

Peirce

2015

Waste Management

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a b s t r a c tA life cycle assessment was carried out to assess a selection of the factors influencing the environmental impacts and benefits of incinerating the fraction of municipal waste remaining after source-separation for reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion. The factors investigated were the extent of any metal and aggregate recovery from the bottom ash, the thermal efficiency of the process, and the conventional fuel for electricity generation displaced by the power generated. The results demonstrate that incineration has significant advantages over landfill with lower impacts from climate change, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication human toxicity and aquatic ecotoxicity. To maximise the benefits of energy recovery, metals, particularly aluminium, should be reclaimed from the residual bottom ash and the energy recovery stage of the process should be as efficient as possible. The overall environmental benefits/burdens of energy from waste also strongly depend on the source of the power displaced by the energy from waste, with coal giving the greatest benefits and combined cycle turbines fuelled by natural gas the lowest of those considered. Regardless of the conventional power displaced incineration presents a lower environmental burden than landfill.

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“…This is the case in the example given above, where fishmeal from reduction fisheries can replace that produced from by-products, but in reality, to produce fishmeal, fish oil is also produced and another level of expansion would be required to fulfil its function, which could also be a multi-functional process, ad infinitum. Mathiesen et al (2009), suggested ways in which subjectivity could be reduced by identifying substitutes based on marginal technologies, but this does not remove the issue of ever increasing expansion. Weidema (2001) claimed that all systems could be modelled using system expansion by attributing the impacts of inputs to the "determining product" in each process.…”

Section: Apportioning Impacts In Multi-functional Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on the Utilization of Aquaculture Coproduct in Europe and Asia: Prospects for Value Addition and Improved Resource Efficiency

Newton

Telfer

Little

2013

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

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Faculty of Natural SciencesInstitute of Aquaculture Doctor of PhilosophyBy-products and mortalities from aquaculture have often posed significant challenges to the industry because of their low value resulting in high costs and environmental impact from their disposal. However increasing interest is being expressed in their utilisation to add value to the aquaculture industry and provide synergies with industries which had previously been in competition with aquaculture.Current and prospective processing by-product and farm mortality utilisation strategies were reviewed along with regulations and standards which aim to control their use and protect against human and animal health hazards.The role of aquaculture and fishery by-products in the supply of fishmeal was investigated and it was found that both sectors had the potential to contribute to increasing global supply. There were significant quantities of processing by-products identified which could be directed to fishmeal manufacture but there were also significant amounts of fish production which were not being processed in some regions and could also add to supplies. Processing by-products from aquaculture species often exceed 50% of the production by mass and therefore their efficient utilisation is of significant importance to the overall performance of the value chain. Their utilisation ii strategies are diverse and in some circumstances offer the possibility to add significant value.Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used to inform decision makers and consumers about the environmental performance of goods and services to make choices on best practices and informative decisions on purchasing choices. Current methodology in LCA was critiqued and developed to be used for identifying disproportionate impacts from by-product industries and comparative assessment of the eco-efficiency of value chains from Thai shrimp, Vietnamese Pangasius catfish and Scottish salmon aquaculture.New LCA methodology was developed assessing the eco-efficiency of co-products as a whole and in relation to a tonne of edible yield. Measuring the impact of the by-product industry in relation to their edible yield gave different results to measuring their ecoefficiency between the three study species. It was found that the Thai shrimp value chain was the most eco-efficient when by-products were directed to chitosan and hydrolysate manufacture, but production of the salmon was the least impacting between the species in terms of edible yield. Pangasius was the most environmentally impacting of the three species value chains using both methods. It was also found that the upstream impacts of fish and shrimp production, especially feed manufacture, contributed most to the environmental impact in most circumstances, using both economic and mass allocation.Although the methodology produced interesting results, there were some drawbacks and the data sets also had several gaps which led to some assumptions, which could have skewed the results and interpretation.The cau...

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Uncertainties related to the identification of the marginal energy technology in consequential life cycle assessments

Cited by 165 publications

References 17 publications

Implications of integrating electricity supply dynamics into life cycle assessment: A case study of renewable distributed generation

Implications of integrating electricity supply dynamics into life cycle assessment: A case study of renewable distributed generation

Factors influencing the life cycle burdens of the recovery of energy from residual municipal waste

Perspectives on the Utilization of Aquaculture Coproduct in Europe and Asia: Prospects for Value Addition and Improved Resource Efficiency

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