Life Cycle Assessment on Wave and Tidal Energy Systems: A Review of Current Methodological Practice

Xizhuo Zhang, Longfei Zhang, Yujun Yuan and Qiang Zhai
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Xizhuo Zhang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electrical & Information Engineering, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
Longfei Zhang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electrical & Information Engineering, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
Yujun Yuan: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electrical & Information Engineering, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
Qiang Zhai: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electrical & Information Engineering, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Recent decades have witnessed wave and tidal energy technology receiving considerable attention because of their low carbon emissions during electricity production. However, indirect emissions from their entire life cycle should not be ignored. Therefore, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely applied as a useful approach to systematically evaluate the environmental performance of wave and tidal energy technologies. This study reviews recent LCA studies on wave and tidal energy systems for stakeholders to understand current status of methodological practice and associated inherent limitations and reveal future research needs for application of LCA on wave and tidal technologies. The conformance of the selected LCAs to ISO 14040 (2006) and 14044 (2006) are critically analyzed in strict accordance with the ISO stepwise methodologies, namely, goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis, as well as life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Our systematically screening of these studies indicates that few of the selected studies are of strict conformance with ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, which makes the results unreliable and thus further reduces the confidence of interested stakeholders. Further, our review indicates that current LCA practice on wave and tidal energies is lacking consideration of temporal variations, which should be addressed in future research, as it causes inaccuracy and uncertainties.

Keywords: wave energy; tidal current energy; life cycle assessment; ISO (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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