Carbon and Water Footprint Evaluation of 120Wp Rural Household Photovoltaic System: Case Study

This study uses the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to evaluate the magnitude of the environmental impact, in terms of global warming potential, and water footprint throughout the 20 years of useful life of a rural electrical energy concession comprised of 120Wp Households photovoltaic systems (HPS) in the isolated communities of San Martin, in the Peruvian Amazon region. On the other hand, due to the particular conditions of the system (installation, operation, maintenance, monthly tariff collection), it is necessary to know its real impact and sustainability;not only through the aforementioned environmental impact indicators, but also by energy intensity values required by the system throughout its life cycle. Therefore, this paper used the Cumulative energy demand (CED) method to determine the amount of energy taken from natural resources for each process involved in the LCA and calculated with this, i.e., the Energy Payback Time (EPBT) of the whole system. Likewise, the HPS has been environmentally compared to other case studies and the Peruvian Energy Mix, revealing a lower impact in the latter case and results within the range for stand-alone systems. Besides, the HPS shows a strong relation between energy production and O&M condition. Additionally, this study allows a further promotion of the use of this type of system in isolated areas, as well as the diversification of electricity generation in Peru.

Deployment of Electric Induction Technologies into Cooktops Plates as a Part of Energy Sustainability

For a long time now, humanity has been facing the phenomenon known as “climate change”, a major challenge of which we must be aware of what we are doing so as not to affect ourselves or future generations. It is evident that, if what is sought is a sustainable energy future, the current energy model implemented in certain countries and regions of the world is not the most adequate and makes the achievement of this goal unfeasible. This situation threatens to greatly alter our ecosystems and our social structures, and one of the key actions to mitigate it is, undeniably, the generalization of the use of renewable energy sources;and specifically, the non-conventional sources, referring to solar and wind, technologies that comply with the principle of energy complementarity;however, there are other possible solutions such as the deployment of programs that consider efficient cooking technologies;involving with it is everything related to energy security and equity, as well as environmental protection. In this article, as a technology to be considered to reduce and mitigate the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions, an analysis of the efficiency assessment of electric induction cooktops and the determination of their potential energy savings are carried out. The impact of these results is taken into consideration and a series of conclusions and recommendations for improvement are issued.

Application of Life-Cycle Assessment for the Study of Carbon and Water Footprints of the 16.5 MWe Wind Farm in Villonaco, Loja, Ecuador

Wind technology is considered to be among the most promising types of renewable energy sources, and due to high oil prices and growing concerns about climate change and energy security, it has been the subject of extensive considerations in recent years, including questions related to the relative sustainability of electricity production when the manufacturing, assembly, transportation and dismantling processes of these facilities are taken into account. The present article evaluates the environmental impacts, carbon emissions and water consumption, derived from the production of electric energy of the Villonaco wind farm, located in Loja, Ecuador, during its entire life cycle, using the Life Cycle Analysis for this purpose. Finally, it is concluded that wind energy has greater environmental advantages since it has lower values of carbon and water footprints than other energy sources. Additionally, with the techniques Cumulative Energy Demand and Energy Return on Investment, sustainability in the production of electricity from wind power in Ecuador is demonstrated;and, that due to issues of vulnerability to climate change, the diversification of its energy mix is essential considering the inclusion of non-conventional renewable sources such as solar or wind, this being the only way to reduce both the carbon footprint and the water from the energy supply.