Life Cycle Analysis of a Geothermal Power Plant: Comparison of the Environmental Performance with Other Renewable Energy Systems

Riccardo Basosi, Roberto Bonciani, Dario Frosali, Giampaolo Manfrida, Maria Laura Parisi and Franco Sansone
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Riccardo Basosi: RES Lab, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
Roberto Bonciani: Enel Green Power, 56122 Pisa, Italy
Dario Frosali: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50135 Florence, Italy
Giampaolo Manfrida: Center for Colloid and Surface Science, 50019 Firenze, Italy
Maria Laura Parisi: RES Lab, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
Franco Sansone: Enel Green Power, 56122 Pisa, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-29

Abstract: A life cycle analysis was performed for the assessment of the environmental performances of three existing Italian power plants of comparable nominal power operating with different sources of renewable energy: Geothermal, solar, and wind. Primary data were used for building the life cycle inventories. The results are characterized by employing a wide portfolio of environmental indicators employing the ReCiPe 2016 and the ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ methods; normalization and weighting are also applied using the ReCiPe 2016 method at the endpoint level. The midpoint results demonstrate a good eco-profile of the geothermal power plant compared to other renewable energy systems and a definite step forward over the performance of the national energy mix. The Eco-Point single score calculation showed that wind energy is the best technology with a value of 0.0012 Eco-points/kWh, a result in line with previously documented life cycle analysis studies. Nevertheless, the geothermal power plant achieved a value of 0.0177 Eco-points/kWh which is close to that calculated for the photovoltaic plant (0.0087 Eco-points/kWh) and much lower than the national energy mix one (0.1240 Eco-points/kWh). Also, a scenario analysis allowed for a critical discussion about potential improvements to the environmental performance of the geothermal power plant.

Keywords: geothermal energy; life cycle analysis; solar energy; photovoltaics; renewable energy power plant; wind energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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