IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v38y2010i7p3622-3631.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life cycle assessment of the transmission network in Great Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Harrison, Gareth P.
  • Maclean, Edward (Ned). J.
  • Karamanlis, Serafeim
  • Ochoa, Luis F.

Abstract

Analysis of lower carbon power systems has tended to focus on the operational carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power stations. However, to achieve the large cuts required it is necessary to understand the whole-life contribution of all sectors of the electricity industry. Here, a preliminary assessment of the life cycle carbon emissions of the transmission network in Great Britain is presented. Using a 40-year period and assuming a static generation mix it shows that the carbon equivalent emissions (or global warming potential) of the transmission network are around 11Â gCO2-eq/kWh of electricity transmitted and that almost 19 times more energy is transmitted by the network than is used in its construction and operation. Operational emissions account for 96% of this with transmission losses alone totalling 85% and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions featuring significantly. However, the CO2 embodied within the raw materials of the network infrastructure itself represents a modest 3%. Transmission investment decisions informed by whole-life cycle carbon assessments of network design could balance higher financial and carbon 'capital' costs of larger conductors with lower transmission losses and CO2 emissions over the network lifetime. This will, however, necessitate new regulatory approaches to properly incentivise transmission companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Harrison, Gareth P. & Maclean, Edward (Ned). J. & Karamanlis, Serafeim & Ochoa, Luis F., 2010. "Life cycle assessment of the transmission network in Great Britain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3622-3631, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:7:p:3622-3631
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(10)00120-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fthenakis, Vasilis M. & Kim, Hyung Chul, 2007. "Greenhouse-gas emissions from solar electric- and nuclear power: A life-cycle study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2549-2557, April.
    2. Meier, Paul J. & Wilson, Paul P. H. & Kulcinski, Gerald L. & Denholm, Paul L., 2005. "US electric industry response to carbon constraint: a life-cycle assessment of supply side alternatives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1099-1108, June.
    3. Weisser, Daniel, 2007. "A guide to life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric supply technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1543-1559.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heetae Kim & Petter Holme, 2015. "Network Theory Integrated Life Cycle Assessment for an Electric Power System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Miller, Hugh & Dikau, Simon & Svartzman, Romain & Dees, Stéphane, 2023. "The stumbling block in ‘the race of our lives’: transition-critical materials, financial risks and the NGFS climate scenarios," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118095, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Emmanuel Hache & Marine Simoën & Gondia Sokhna Seck & Clément Bonnet & Aymen Jabberi, 2020. "The impact of future power generation on cement demand: An international and regional assessment based on climate scenarios," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 163, pages 114-133.
    4. Hu, Zhuangli & Zhang, Yongjun & Li, Canbing & Li, Jing & Cao, Yijia & Luo, Diansheng & Cao, Huazhen, 2015. "Utilization efficiency of electrical equipment within life cycle assessment: Indexes, analysis and a case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 885-896.
    5. Lucas, Alexandre & Alexandra Silva, Carla & Costa Neto, Rui, 2012. "Life cycle analysis of energy supply infrastructure for conventional and electric vehicles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 537-547.
    6. Johnson, R.C. & Mayfield, M., 2020. "The economic and environmental implications of post feed-in tariff PV on constrained low voltage networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    7. Daniels, Laura & Coker, Phil & Potter, Ben, 2016. "Embodied carbon dioxide of network assets in a decarbonised electricity grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 142-154.
    8. Dahlia Byles & Salman Mohagheghi, 2023. "Sustainable Power Grid Expansion: Life Cycle Assessment, Modeling Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Garcia, Rita & Marques, Pedro & Freire, Fausto, 2014. "Life-cycle assessment of electricity in Portugal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 563-572.
    10. Orfanos, Neoptolemos & Mitzelos, Dimitris & Sagani, Angeliki & Dedoussis, Vassilis, 2019. "Life-cycle environmental performance assessment of electricity generation and transmission systems in Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1447-1462.
    11. Ortega-Arriaga, P. & Babacan, O. & Nelson, J. & Gambhir, A., 2021. "Grid versus off-grid electricity access options: A review on the economic and environmental impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    12. Henrik Schwaeppe & Luis Böttcher & Klemens Schumann & Lukas Hein & Philipp Hälsig & Simon Thams & Paula Baquero Lozano & Albert Moser, 2022. "Analyzing Intersectoral Benefits of District Heating in an Integrated Generation and Transmission Expansion Planning Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-31, March.
    13. Pfenninger, Stefan & Keirstead, James, 2015. "Renewables, nuclear, or fossil fuels? Scenarios for Great Britain’s power system considering costs, emissions and energy security," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 83-93.
    14. Kimon Keramidas & Silvana Mima & Adrien Bidaud, 2024. "Opportunities and roadblocks in the decarbonisation of the global steel sector: A demand and production modelling approach," Post-Print hal-04383385, HAL.
    15. Lucas, Alexandre & Neto, Rui Costa & Silva, Carla Alexandra, 2013. "Energy supply infrastructure LCA model for electric and hydrogen transportation systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 70-80.
    16. Daniels, Laura & Coker, Phil & Gunn, Alice & Potter, Ben, 2016. "Using proxies to calculate the carbon impact of investment into electricity network assets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 551-560.
    17. Arvesen, Anders & Hauan, Ingrid Bjerke & Bolsøy, Bernhard Mikal & Hertwich, Edgar G., 2015. "Life cycle assessment of transport of electricity via different voltage levels: A case study for Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 144-151.
    18. Jorge, Raquel S. & Hertwich, Edgar G., 2013. "Environmental evaluation of power transmission in Norway," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 513-520.
    19. Srikkanth Ramachandran & Kais Siala & Cristina de La Rúa & Tobias Massier & Arif Ahmed & Thomas Hamacher, 2021. "Life Cycle Climate Change Impact of a Cost-Optimal HVDC Connection to Import Solar Energy from Australia to Singapore," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, November.
    20. Harris, Irina & Mumford, Christine L. & Naim, Mohamed M., 2014. "A hybrid multi-objective approach to capacitated facility location with flexible store allocation for green logistics modeling," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-22.
    21. Jorge, Raquel S. & Hertwich, Edgar G., 2014. "Grid infrastructure for renewable power in Europe: The environmental cost," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 760-768.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2008. "Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2940-2953, August.
    2. Turconi, Roberto & Boldrin, Alessio & Astrup, Thomas, 2013. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies: Overview, comparability and limitations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 555-565.
    3. Manfred Lenzen & Roberto Schaeffer, 2012. "Historical and potential future contributions of power technologies to global warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 601-632, June.
    4. Orfanos, Neoptolemos & Mitzelos, Dimitris & Sagani, Angeliki & Dedoussis, Vassilis, 2019. "Life-cycle environmental performance assessment of electricity generation and transmission systems in Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1447-1462.
    5. Lenzen, Manfred & McBain, Bonnie & Trainer, Ted & Jütte, Silke & Rey-Lescure, Olivier & Huang, Jing, 2016. "Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 553-564.
    6. Prehoda, Emily W. & Pearce, Joshua M., 2017. "Potential lives saved by replacing coal with solar photovoltaic electricity production in the U.S," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 710-715.
    7. Howard, B. & Waite, M. & Modi, V., 2017. "Current and near-term GHG emissions factors from electricity production for New York State and New York City," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 255-271.
    8. Evans, Annette & Strezov, Vladimir & Evans, Tim J., 2009. "Assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1082-1088, June.
    9. Scarlat, Nicolae & Prussi, Matteo & Padella, Monica, 2022. "Quantification of the carbon intensity of electricity produced and used in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    10. Dries Haeseldonckx & William D’haeseleer, 2010. "Hydrogen from Renewables," Chapters, in: François Lévêque & Jean-Michel Glachant & Julián Barquín & Christian von Hirschhausen & Franziska Ho (ed.), Security of Energy Supply in Europe, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Lee, Sin Cherng & Sum Ng, Denny Kok & Yee Foo, Dominic Chwan & Tan, Raymond R., 2009. "Extended pinch targeting techniques for carbon-constrained energy sector planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 60-67, January.
    12. McCubbin, Donald & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "Quantifying the health and environmental benefits of wind power to natural gas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 429-441.
    13. Paul Koltun & Alfred Tsykalo & Vasily Novozhilov, 2018. "Life Cycle Assessment of the New Generation GT-MHR Nuclear Power Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Verbruggen, Aviel & Laes, Erik & Lemmens, Sanne, 2014. "Assessment of the actual sustainability of nuclear fission power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 16-28.
    15. Nian, Victor & Chou, S.K. & Su, Bin & Bauly, John, 2014. "Life cycle analysis on carbon emissions from power generation – The nuclear energy example," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 68-82.
    16. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Delucchi, Mark A., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part I: Technologies, energy resources, quantities and areas of infrastructure, and materials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1154-1169, March.
    17. Yi, Ji Hyun & Ko, Woong & Park, Jong-Keun & Park, Hyeongon, 2018. "Impact of carbon emission constraint on design of small scale multi-energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 792-808.
    18. Tsai, Bi-Huei & Chang, Chih-Jen & Chang, Chun-Hsien, 2016. "Elucidating the consumption and CO2 emissions of fossil fuels and low-carbon energy in the United States using Lotka–Volterra models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 416-424.
    19. Zhang, Ruirui & Wang, Guiling & Shen, Xiaoxu & Wang, Jinfeng & Tan, Xianfeng & Feng, Shoutao & Hong, Jinglan, 2020. "Is geothermal heating environmentally superior than coal fired heating in China?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Guohua Feng & Chuan Wang & Apostolos Serletis, 2018. "Shadow prices of $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 emissions at US electric utilities: a random-coefficient, random-directional-vector directional output distance function approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 231-258, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:7:p:3622-3631. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.