Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Energy Technologies of Bangladesh

Abstract

As the benefit of the renewable energy systems getting more and more clear to people, these are being introduced in small scale and large scale in both developed and developing countries. Renewable energy systems show a considerable environmental benefit over the conventional fossil based energy systems. To compare the environmental impacts between renewable and non- renewable energy systems several studies has been conducted in several location, in several condition. This thesis conducts the life cycle energy and emission analysis between two most popular PV systems: solar PV system and wind energy system in Bangladesh. For this analysis a 21.16 kWp solar PV system is selected which is located at Dhaka Bangladesh. But for the analysis of wind energy system no wind turbine or wind power plant found active in Bangladesh, although several has been installed in several locations of Bangladesh. Therefore, a wind energy system has been designed which will provide the same amount of energy output as that of the PV system. The results from this analysis show that the energy payback time for PV system and wind energy system is 5.7 and 1.71 years respectively. Therefore, it is clear that the wind energy system will generate way more energy in its life time than that of the solar PV system. From the emission analysis, it is found that the CO2 emission intensity of the PV system is 5.28 kg CO2/kWhel. On the other hand, the wind energy system has a CO2 emission intensity of 0.12 kg CO2/kWhel. The manufacturing of PV module in the solar PV system is found to be responsible for this huge difference of emission intensity. Wind energy system comprises of components which requires less energy and emits less greenhouse gas during its manufacturing, which caused the differences between the results.