Life Cycle Carbon and Water Footprinting for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell

• Main Authors: Shin-Ying Yang, 楊士瑩
• Other Authors: 胡憲倫
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/dpdyf6

碩士 === 國立臺北科技大學 === 環境工程與管理研究所 === 101 === Our living planet is facing global climate change and lots of other environmental problems. It alos includes water problems. According to the literature, if the temperature continues to rise, the population which affected by the shortage of water will be as high as 400 to 1,700 million in 2020. In addition to environmental and water problems, energy is also a serious problem. In Taiwan, energy demand relies mostly on importation (99.39%). While the importance of energy and water resources is higher than before, it is believe that we need to focus on developing renewable energy. Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is one kind of solar cells of the third generations. Solar energy can be transformed into power through several mechanisms. Although there is no carbon dioxide released and water consumed during the power generation stage, we need to consider the impact of the whole life cycle. In this study, life cycle stages of solar cell, including material mining, manufacturing and assembling, transport, using and final disposal are considered. Life cycle assessment software- GaBi 5 was used for calculating the carbon footprint and water footprint of DSSC. The results showed that the carbon footprint and water footprint of whole DSSC power generation system are 342.44 kg CO2 and 7,409,280 L, respectively. To convert the results into per kWh electricity produced, the results become 0.141 kg CO2/kWh and 3,050 L/kWh for the carbon footprint and water footprint, respectively.