A life cycle assessment of distributed energy production from organic waste: Two case studies in Europe.
By means of the life cycle assessment methodology, the purpose of this study is to assess the environmental impact when biomethane from organic waste produced at residential level is used to supply energy to a group of dwellings in the distributed generation paradigm. Three different Combined Heat and Power systems, such as fuel cells, Stirling engine and micro gas turbine, installed at household level are assessed in two different settings: one in Northern Europe (UK) and one in Southern Europe (Italy). Different operating strategies are investigated for each technology. Moreover, marginal electricity production technologies are analysed to assess their influence on the results. This study has demonstrated that the type of bio-methane fed micro-CHP technology employed has a significantly different environmental impact: fuel cells are the most environmentally friendly solution in every category analysed; Stirling engines, although can supply heat to the largest number of dwellings are the least environmentally friendly technology. However, key factors investigated in the model presented in this paper influence the decision making on the type of technology adopted and the operating strategy to be implemented.
Chemical Engineering Department, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E7JE, UK.
Sara
S
Evangelisti
Centre for Environmental Strategy, The University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK.
Roland
R
Clift
Chemical Engineering Department, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E7JE, UK.
Carla
C
Tagliaferri
Chemical Engineering Department, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E7JE, UK. Electronic address: p.lettieri@ucl.ac.uk.
Paola
P
Lettieri
D056804:Biofuels; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D004777:Environment; D005060:Europe; D007558:Italy; D008697:Methane
D056804:Biofuels; D008697:Methane
Biomethane; Distributed generation; Food waste; Life cycle assessment; micro-CHP