Starting from the results of a life cycle assessment of solar thermal collector for sanitary warm water, an energy balance between the employed energy during the collector life cycle and the energy saved thanks to the collector use has been investigated. A sensitivity analysis for estimating the...

There is a fast growing interest in better understanding the energy performance of PV technologies as evidenced by a large number of recent studies published on this topic. The goal of this study was to do a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the embedded energy, energy payback time...

This paper aims to examine the sustainability and environmental performance of PV-based electricity generation systems by conducting a thorough review of the life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of five common photovoltaic (PV) systems, i.e., mono-crystalline (mono-Si), multi-crystalline...

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an instrument to quantify environmental impacts of the entire energy supply chain. According to the LCA, an appropriate indicator system should comprise all steps of a system's life cycle: production, operational and disposal processes ("cradle-to-grave")....

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an instrument to quantify environmental impacts of the entire energy supply chain. According to the LCA, an appropriate indicator system should comprise all steps of a system's life cycle: production, operational and disposal processes ("cradle-to-grave")....

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is expected as one of the ideal renewable energy resources which can be used in large scale in Hong Kong. This paper presents an in-depth investigation into the development potential of rooftop PV system in Hong Kong and its environmental benefits as well. The...

Although wind technology produces no emissions during operation, there is an environmental impact associated with the wind turbine during the entire life cycle of the plant, from production to dismantling. A life cycle assessment is carried out to quantify the environmental impact of two...

Emerging photovoltaics has gathered much attention in the last years. Among the innovative technologies developed in order to decrease the costs and broaden the applicability of photovoltaics, the dye sensitized solar cells have gained a flourishing interest for their potential as an...

The energy returned on invested, EROI, has been evaluated for typical power plants representing wind energy, photovoltaics, solar thermal, hydro, natural gas, biogas, coal and nuclear power. The strict exergy concept with no “primary energy weighting”, updated material databases, and updated...

Meteorological conditions are decisive in solar plant management and electricity generation. Any increases or decreases in solar radiation mean a plant has to adapt its operation method to the climatological phenomena. An unexpected atmospheric change can provoke a range of problems related to...