Hybrid life cycle assessment of a geothermal plant: From physical to monetary inventory accounting

Assessing the environmental impacts of electricity generation is fundamental for designing a low-carbon future for our societies. The amount of data collected for that purpose has significantly increased over the past decade due to the emergence of various methods, such as life cycle assessment and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cleaner production 2017-01, Vol.142, p.2509-2523
Main Authors: Martínez-Corona, Jorge Isaac, Gibon, Thomas, Hertwich, Edgar G., Parra-Saldívar, Roberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic inventory
Geothermal energy
Hybrid LCA
Monetary allocation
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Summary:Assessing the environmental impacts of electricity generation is fundamental for designing a low-carbon future for our societies. The amount of data collected for that purpose has significantly increased over the past decade due to the emergence of various methods, such as life cycle assessment and input-output analysis. We present here a comparison of environmental assessment methods for geothermal plants, based on physical and/or monetary data. Results show that some hybrid (mass-monetary) inventories yield results that vary significantly between impact categories. However, for the particular geothermal system investigated, direct emissions of geothermal fluids dominate the few impact categories to which they contribute.
ISSN:0959-6526
1879-1786
DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.11.024