Impact of Different Parameters on Life Cycle Analysis, Embodied Energy and Environmental Emissions for Wind Turbine System

Due to the rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves and increasing concern for climate change as a result of greenhouse gas effect, every country is looking for ways to develop eco-friendly renewable energy sources. Wind energy has become a good option due to its comparative economic advantages and environment friendly aspects. But there is always an ongoing debate if wind energy is as green as it seems to appear. Wind turbines once installed do not produce any greenhouse gases during operation, but it can and may produce significant emissions during manufacture, transport, installation and disposal stages. To determine the exact amount of emissions, it is necessary to consider all the stages for a wind turbine from manufacture to disposal. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a technique that determines the energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts of a product or system throughout the life cycle stages. The various approaches that have been used in the literature for the LCA of wind turbines have many discrepancies among the results, the main reason(s) being different investigators used different parameters and boundary conditions, and thus comparisons are difficult. In this paper, the influence of different parameters such as turbine size, technology (geared or gearbox less), recycling, medium of transport, different locations, orientation of the blade (horizontal or vertical), blade material, positioning of wind turbine (land, coastal or offshore), etc. on greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy is studied using the available data from exhaustive search of literature. This provides tools to find better solutions for power production in an environmental friendly manner by selecting a proper blade orientation technique, with suitable blade material, technology, recycling techniques and suitable location.

Embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions evaluation for urban industrial structure optimization

Cities are the main material processors asso- ciated with industrialization. The development of urban production based on fossil fuels is the major contributor to the rise of greenhouse gas density, and to global warming. The concept of urban industrial structure optimization is considered to be a solution to urban sustainable develop- ment and global climate issues. Enforcing energy con- servation and reducing carbon emissions are playing key roles in addressing these issues. As such, quantitative accounting and the evaluation of energy consumption and corresponding carbon emissions, which are by-products of urban production, are critical, in order to discover potential opportunities to save energy and to reduce emissions. Conventional evaluation indicators, such as ＂energy consumption per unit output value＂ and ＂emissions per unit output value＂, are concerned with immediate consumptions and emissions; while the indirect consump- tions and emissions that occur throughout the supply chain are ignored. This does not support the optimization of the overall urban industrial system. To present a systematic evaluation framework for cities, this study constructs new evaluation indicators, based on the concepts of ＂embodied energy＂ and ＂embodied carbon emissions＂, which take both the immediate and indirect effects of energy consumption and emissions into account. Taking Beijing as a case, conventional evaluation indicators are compared with the newly constructed ones. Results show that the energy consumption and emissions of urban industries are represented better by the new indicators than by conventional indicators, and provide useful information for urban industrial structure optimization.

A process-level hierarchical structural decomposition analysis (SDA) of energy consumption in an integrated steel plant

A hierarchical structural decomposition analysis(SDA) model has been developed based on process-level input-output(I-O) tables to analyze the drivers of energy consumption changes in an integrated steel plant during 2011-2013. By combining the principle of hierarchical decomposition into D&L method, a hierarchical decomposition model for multilevel SDA is obtained. The developed hierarchical IO-SDA model would provide consistent results and need less computation effort compared with the traditional SDA model. The decomposition results of the steel plant suggest that the technology improvement and reduced steel final demand are two major reasons for declined total energy consumption. The technical improvements of blast furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, the power plant and the by-products utilization level have contributed mostly in reducing energy consumption. A major retrofit of ancillary process units and solving fuel substitution problem in the sinter plant and blast furnace are important for further energy saving. Besides the empirical results, this work also discussed that why and how hierarchical SDA can be applied in a process-level decomposition analysis of aggregated indicators.

An input-output model for energy accounting and analysis of industrial production processes： a case study of an integrated steel plant

To promote sustainability, it has become increasingly vital to properly account material and energy flows in industrial production processes. Therefore, a generic process-level input-output （IO） model was developed to provide an integrated energy （material） accounting and analysis approach for industrial production processes. By extending the existing processlevel IO models, the production, usage, export and loss of by-products were explicitly considered in the proposed IO model. Moreover, the by-products allocation procedures were incorporated into the proposed IO model to reflect individual contributions of products to energy consumption. Finally, the proposed model enabled calculating embodied energy of main products and total energy consumption under hierarchical accounting scope. Plant managers, energy management consultants, governmental officials and academic researchers could use this input-output model to account material and energy flows, thus calculating energy consumption indicators of a production process with their specific system boundary requirements. The accounting results could be further used for energy labeling, identifying bottlenecks of production activities, evaluating industrial symbiosis effects, improving materials and energy utilization efficiency, etc. The model could also be used as a planning tool to determine the effect that a particular change of technology and supply chains may have on the industrial production processes. The proposed model was tested and applied in a real integrated steel mill, which also provided the reference results for related researches. At last, some concepts, computational issues and limi- tations of the proposed model were discussed.

Exports-driven primary energy requirements and the structural paths of Chinese regions

As the major primary energy importer in the world,China has engaged in considerable efforts to ensure energy security.However,little attention has been paid to China’s embodied primary energy exports.Separating the international export from regional final demand,this paper focuses on quantifying provincial primary energy requirement arising from China’s exports,and tracing its concrete interprovincial supply chains using multi-regional input-output analysis and structural path analysis.Results show that China’s embodied primary energy uses in exports(EEE)reached 633.01 Mtce in 2012,compared to 565.15 Mtce in 2007.Four fifths of the EEE were supplied through interprovincial trade.Eastern coastal provinces accounted for nearly 70%of the national total EEE,while their primary energy supply mainly sourced from the central and western provinces.Most interprovincial supply chain paths of embodied primary energy exports were traced to the coal mining sectors of Shanxi,Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi.Critical receiving sectors in the final export provinces were Chemical industry,Metallurgy,Electronic equipment,Textile and other manufacturing sectors.Important transmission sectors were Electricity and hot water production and supply and Petroleum refining,coking,etc.In view of the specific role of exports in primary energy requirements,provincial energy uses are largely dependent on its domestic trade position and degrees of industrial participation in the global economy.Managing critical industrial sectors and supply chain paths associated with the international exports provide new insights to ensure China’s energy security and to formulate targeted energy policies.

What leads to variations in the results of life-cycle energy assessment?An evidence-based framework for residential buildings

Residential buildings are one of the major contributors to climate change due to their significant impacts on global energy consumption.Hence,most countries have introduced regulations to minimize energy use in residential buildings.To date,the focus of these regulations has mainly been on operational energy while excluding embodied energy.In recent years,extensive studies have highlighted the necessity of minimizing both embodied energy and operational energy by applying the life-cycle energy assessment(LCEA)approach.However,the absence of a standardized framework and calculation methodology for the analysis of embodied energy has reportedly led to variations in the LCEA results.Retrospective research endeavoured to explore the causes of variations,with a limited focus on calculating embodied impacts.Despite the undertaken attempts,there is still a need to investigate the key parameters causing variations in LCEA results by examining methodological approaches of the current studies toward quantifications of embodied and operational energies.This paper aims to address three primary questions:‘what is the current trend of methodological approach for applying LCEA in residential buildings?’;‘what are the key parameters causing variations in LCEA results?’;and‘how can the continued variations in the application of LCEA in residential buildings be overcome?’.To this end,40 LCEA studies representing 157 cases of residential buildings across 16 countries have been critically reviewed.The findings reveal four principal categories of parameters that potentially contribute to the varying results of LCEAs:system boundary definition,calculation methods,geographical context,and interpretation of results.This paper also proposes a conceptual framework to minimize variations in LCEA studies by standardizing the process of conducting LCEAs.

中国与全球能源网络的互动逻辑与格局转变

China is in a critical period of transforming from the oil and gas era to the renewable energy era.To better understand the process of energy interaction between China and the rest of the world,this study aimed to investigate the basic theoretical cognition of global energy interaction and analyze the pattern and changes of energy interaction between China and the rest of the world with the method of complex networks,multi-region input-output analysis,and other technical methods.The main findings are as follows:(1)Chinas coal-based energy production structure and the huge demand for oil and gas indicate that ensuring overseas oil and gas supply is the most direct logic of energy interaction between China and the rest of the world,and the interaction scopes are mainly concentrated in oil-and gas-rich countries and regions.(2)With the development of renewable energy,the logic of energy interaction of China with the rest of the world has changed from countries and regions rich in oil and gas to countries with global renewable energy development and installation needs for its comparative advantages for manufacturing,which forms a renewable energy trade map that covers all major countries and regions in the world.(3)The overseas energy investment target of China has expanded from a limited number of host countries to Europe,Southeast Asia,and other countries and regions.The investment business is not only limited to the oil and gas field,but also expanded to solar energy,wind energy,hydro-power,and other renewable electricity generation projects.(4)As a global manufacturing and trading power,part of the energy consumed by China is embodied in the global production network and trade network for redistribution.The scope of energy interactions between China and the world will further expand to countries with general commodity trade relations with China,forming the global“energy hub”function.This study can provide a theoretical perspective and decision-making for a deeper understanding of the energy interactions between China and the world,maintaining national energy security,and participating in global energy economic governance.