An energy and carbon life cycle assessment of tidal power case study: The proposed Cardiff–Weston severn barrage scheme

K.A. Kelly, M.C. McManus and G.P. Hammond

Energy, 2012, vol. 44, issue 1, 692-701

Abstract: Under the Kyoto Protocol many countries have targets to reduce carbon emissions and increase renewable energy production. In order to do this effectively the impact and efficacy of differing schemes must be determined. One option for producing electricity is through the use of a tidal barrage. The largest potential barrage scheme considered in the UK is the Cardiff–Weston barrage scheme in the Severn estuary. The scheme would be a single, renewable installation and is predicted to constitute 4% of the UK electricity supply. Therefore a carbon and energy assessment was completed on the Cardiff–Weston Severn barrage scheme. The assessment shows that the energy and carbon intensity of the Severn barrage is small in comparison to the National Grid mix and that, given reasonable assumptions, the Severn barrage can contribute to meeting the UK carbon reduction target. Importantly, the operation stage was identified as both the most energy and carbon intense by a large margin. This is a notable finding as preceding studies have tended to dismiss the consequences of the barrage operation as minimal or nil. Whilst these findings are for the Cardiff–Weston barrage, the implications will be similar for tidal barrages in other sites in the UK and globally.

Keywords: Tidal barrage; Life cycle assessment; Low carbon energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212004033
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:44:y:2012:i:1:p:692-701

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2012.05.023

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().