Life Cycle Assessment of Italian Electricity Scenarios to 2030

Alessia Gargiulo, Maria Leonor Carvalho and Pierpaolo Girardi
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Alessia Gargiulo: Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, 20134 Milan, Italy
Maria Leonor Carvalho: Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, 20134 Milan, Italy
Pierpaolo Girardi: Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, 20134 Milan, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: The study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Italian electricity scenarios, devised in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (INECP). A fully representative LCA of the national electricity system was carried out, taking into consideration a great number of different power plant typologies for current (2016 and 2017) and future (2030) electricity mixes. The study confirms that LCA can be a powerful tool for supporting energy planning and strategies assessment. Indeed the results put in evidence not only the improvement of the environmental profile from the current to the future mix (the impacts decrease from 2016 to 2030 due to the transition towards renewables, mainly wind and photovoltaic), but also underline the difference between two scenarios at 2030 (being the scenario that includes the strategic objectives of the INECP to 2030 the one showing best environmental profile), providing an evaluation of the effect of different energy policies. For example, in the INECP scenario CO 2 eq/kWh is 46% lower than current scenario and 37% lower than business as usual scenario for 2030. Moreover, considering different impact categories allowed to identify potential environmental trade-offs. The results suggest also the need of future insight on data related to photovoltaic technologies and materials and their future development.

Keywords: electricity scenarios; life cycle assessment; Italian electricity; environmental impacts (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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