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AN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF A SOLAR INSTALLATION TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE POLICY OBJECTIVES
Abstract
Climate change and assessment of potential impacts to reduce it is one of the most pressing and priority issues on the agenda of the international community. Developing environmental assessment of alternative energy sources based on life cycle assessment (LCA) is a way to assess climate risks, because it contains the potential of global warming, and therefore allows calculating the carbon footprint of any energy source. However, to properly assess the environmental impacts of alternative energy source it is also important to take into account its input material flows as well as waste flows within the life cycle span. The authors considered the autonomous power supply solar system consisting of solar panels with a total power of 5.4 kWh. The system allows to reliably meeting the electricity needs of the most owners of private houses provided usage of diesel generator as a backup power source. The production system includes the following stages: transportation of the solar battery, rechargeable batteries, controller, inverter and diesel generator to the place of assembly at the consumer; storage and assembling of solar battery components at the consumer place; operation, and the process of transportation to the place of disposal in the end of life. Based on the initial production data and performed LCA of the solar energy source the carbon footprint and the material input per a unit of obtained energy (MIPS criterion) were calculated. Carbon footprint of the solar installation amounts to 504,42 g-eq.CO2/g. The most resource consuming stage is operation due to consumption of only one diesel fuel, the input of other material flows is negligible. The suggested environmental assessment makes possible to choose the best alternative energy source for implementation, taking into account environmental and climate risks while providing timely modernization and adaptation of the electricity and heat supply complex.
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