Wind farms life cycle assessment review: CO2 emissions and climate change

The effects of climate change and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are one of the deep concerns today. The energy generation sector contributes significantly to these emissions, potentiating the climate change and the vulnerability of society and the environment. To attain the Paris Agreement goals,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gisela Mello, Marta Ferreira Dias, Margarita Robaina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
Series:Energy Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484720315298
Description
Summary:The effects of climate change and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are one of the deep concerns today. The energy generation sector contributes significantly to these emissions, potentiating the climate change and the vulnerability of society and the environment. To attain the Paris Agreement goals, the decarbonization of energy sector at global scale may be a solution, which includes the insertion of more renewable sources in the energy mix. In this sense, the increase on generation by wind energy is a feasible option to achieve these targets. Although the wind energy is considered a “cleaner” source and “free of CO2emissions”, when its entire life cycle is considered, it is possible to verify that certain stages, namely the equipment manufacturing and decommissioning, have different and significant contributions in terms of inputs and energy consumption, but also gases emissions and environmental impacts.Thereby, the aim of this research is to present a systematic literature review of wind farms life cycle assessments, the relevant aspects related to CO2 emissions and resource consumption are highlighted, and improvements in process and advantages of equipment reusing in end of service for diminishing the effects of climate change are discussed.
ISSN:2352-4847