Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation from Municipal Solid Waste in Nigeria: A Prospective Study

Oluwaseun Nubi (), Stephen Morse and Richard J. Murphy
Additional contact information
Oluwaseun Nubi: Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Stephen Morse: Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Richard J. Murphy: Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: Globally, rising population and rapid urbanisation have resulted in the dual issues of increased electricity demand and waste generation. These exacerbate diverse global problems, ranging from irregular electricity supply and inadequate waste management systems to water/air/soil pollution, climate change, etc. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) approaches have been proposed and developed to address simultaneously these two issues through energy recovery from waste. However, the variety of available waste materials and different WtE technologies make the choice of an appropriate technology challenging for decision-makers. The evaluation of the different WtE technologies in terms of their sustainability could provide a solid comparative base for strategic decision making in the power and waste management domains. This paper presents research conducted using a multidimensional Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach to estimate and compare the environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with the generation of electricity from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in two major cities, Lagos and Abuja, in Nigeria. These cities provide case studies in a developing world context to explore how their similarities and differences may influence the LCSA impacts for four WtE systems (Anaerobic Digestion, Incineration, Gasification, and Landfill Gas to Energy), and this is the first research of its kind. An LCSA ranking and scoring system and a muti-attribute value theory (MAVT) multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were employed to evaluate the overall sustainability of the prospective use of WtE over a 20-year timeframe. The results from both approaches indicated that the adoption of WtE offered sustainability benefits for both cities, marginally more so for Lagos than Abuja. It was concluded that, for optimal benefits to be achieved, it is vital for decision-makers to think about the various trade-offs revealed by this type of analysis and the varying priorities of relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: municipal solid waste; waste management; electricity supply; waste to energy; life cycle assessment; life cycle costing; social life cycle assessment; life cycle sustainability assessment; multi-criteria decision analysis (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9173/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9173/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:9173-:d:992421

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().