Financial Appraisal of Small Hydro-Power Considering the Cradle-to-Grave Environmental Cost: A Case from Greece

Adamantia Zoi Vougioukli, Eleni Didaskalou and Dimitrios Georgakellos
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Adamantia Zoi Vougioukli: Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece
Eleni Didaskalou: Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece
Dimitrios Georgakellos: Department of Business Administration, University of Piraeus, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou St. 80, 18534 Piraeus, Greece

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: In the last decades increasing attention to environmental issues has come to the fore due to the looming issue of climate change. The growing demand for energy, coupled with the increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have forced the study and development of energy plants that use renewable energy sources (RES), as electricity generation is one of the major contributors to anthropogenic emissions. Small hydropower plants are of particular interest as their potential is assumed to be high. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of small hydropower plants (SHPs) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The main parameter set for our simplified LCA model was the weight of the components used to construct and operate the plant: concrete, aggregates and steel. Through LCA, air pollutant externalities were associated with the life cycle of SHPs. This was accomplished by applying the NEEDS framework. The results are given per impact type (human health, loss of biodiversity, crop yield, material damage and climate change). The spearhead of the study is that the environmental cost must be a parameter of the total investment cost, which may affect the indexes of the financial evaluation of the project.

Keywords: renewable energy sources (RES); environmental impacts; life cycle assessment (LCA); small hydropower plant (SHP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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