IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i6p2022-d152596.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Onshore and Offshore Wind Farms in Texas

Author

Listed:
  • Jesuina Chipindula

    (Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

  • Venkata Sai Vamsi Botlaguduru

    (Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

  • Hongbo Du

    (Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

  • Raghava Rao Kommalapati

    (Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

  • Ziaul Huque

    (Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA)

Abstract

The last decade witnessed a quantum increase in wind energy contribution to the U.S. renewable electricity mix. Although the overall environmental impact of wind energy is miniscule in comparison to fossil-fuel energy, the early stages of the wind energy life cycle have potential for a higher environmental impact. This study attempts to quantify the relative contribution of individual stages toward life cycle impacts by conducting a life cycle assessment with SimaPro ® and the Impact 2002+ impact assessment method. A comparative analysis of individual stages at three locations, onshore, shallow-water, and deep-water, in Texas and the gulf coast indicates that material extraction/processing would be the dominant stage with an average impact contribution of 72% for onshore, 58% for shallow-water, and 82% for deep-water across the 15 midpoint impact categories. The payback times for CO 2 and energy consumption range from 6 to 14 and 6 to 17 months, respectively, with onshore farms having shorter payback times. The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) were in the range of 5–7 gCO 2 eq/kWh for the onshore location, 6–9 CO 2 eq/kWh for the shallow-water location, and 6–8 CO 2 eq/kWh for the deep-water location. A sensitivity analysis of the material extraction/processing stage to the electricity sourcing stage indicates that replacement of lignite coal with natural gas or wind would lead to marginal improvements in midpoint impact categories.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesuina Chipindula & Venkata Sai Vamsi Botlaguduru & Hongbo Du & Raghava Rao Kommalapati & Ziaul Huque, 2018. "Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Onshore and Offshore Wind Farms in Texas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:2022-:d:152596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/2022/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/2022/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kabir, Md Ruhul & Rooke, Braden & Dassanayake, G.D. Malinga & Fleck, Brian A., 2012. "Comparative life cycle energy, emission, and economic analysis of 100 kW nameplate wind power generation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 133-141.
    2. Huang, Yu-Fong & Gan, Xing-Jia & Chiueh, Pei-Te, 2017. "Life cycle assessment and net energy analysis of offshore wind power systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(PA), pages 98-106.
    3. Guezuraga, Begoña & Zauner, Rudolf & Pölz, Werner, 2012. "Life cycle assessment of two different 2 MW class wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 37-44.
    4. Ardente, Fulvio & Beccali, Marco & Cellura, Maurizio & Lo Brano, Valerio, 2008. "Energy performances and life cycle assessment of an Italian wind farm," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 200-217, January.
    5. Myhr, Anders & Bjerkseter, Catho & Ågotnes, Anders & Nygaard, Tor A., 2014. "Levelised cost of energy for offshore floating wind turbines in a life cycle perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 714-728.
    6. Martínez, E. & Sanz, F. & Pellegrini, S. & Jiménez, E. & Blanco, J., 2009. "Life cycle assessment of a multi-megawatt wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 667-673.
    7. Fleck, Brian & Huot, Marc, 2009. "Comparative life-cycle assessment of a small wind turbine for residential off-grid use," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2688-2696.
    8. Lenzen, Manfred & Wachsmann, Ulrike, 2004. "Wind turbines in Brazil and Germany: an example of geographical variability in life-cycle assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 119-130, February.
    9. Mark Richmond & Toby Balaam & Paul Causon & Debora Cevasco & Mareike Leimeister & Athanasios Kolios & Feargal Brennan, 2018. "Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Benchmarking Human-Free Lifting Solutions in the Offshore Wind Energy Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, May.
    10. Bonou, Alexandra & Laurent, Alexis & Olsen, Stig I., 2016. "Life cycle assessment of onshore and offshore wind energy-from theory to application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 327-337.
    11. Khan, Faisal I. & Hawboldt, Kelly & Iqbal, M.T., 2005. "Life Cycle Analysis of wind–fuel cell integrated system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 157-177.
    12. Wagner, Hermann-Josef & Baack, Christoph & Eickelkamp, Timo & Epe, Alexa & Lohmann, Jessica & Troy, Stefanie, 2011. "Life cycle assessment of the offshore wind farm alpha ventus," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2459-2464.
    13. Christian Brannstrom & Mary Tilton & Andrew Klein & Wendy Jepson, 2015. "Spatial Distribution of Estimated Wind-Power Royalties in West Texas," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Pérez-Collazo, C. & Greaves, D. & Iglesias, G., 2015. "A review of combined wave and offshore wind energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 141-153.
    15. Oebels, Kerstin B. & Pacca, Sergio, 2013. "Life cycle assessment of an onshore wind farm located at the northeastern coast of Brazil," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 60-70.
    16. Joseph Cullen, 2013. "Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 107-133, November.
    17. Pehnt, Martin, 2006. "Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-71.
    18. Al-Behadili, S.H. & El-Osta, W.B., 2015. "Life Cycle Assessment of Dernah (Libya) wind farm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1227-1233.
    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. Zhang, Xiaoyue & Huang, Guohe & Liu, Lirong & Li, Kailong, 2022. "Development of a stochastic multistage lifecycle programming model for electric power system planning – A case study for the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Rueda-Bayona, Juan Gabriel & Cabello Eras, Juan Jose & Chaparro, Tatiana R., 2022. "Impacts generated by the materials used in offshore wind technology on Human Health, Natural Environment and Resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    3. Elif Oğuz & Ayşe Eylül Şentürk, 2019. "Selection of the Most Sustainable Renewable Energy System for Bozcaada Island: Wind vs. Photovoltaic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-33, July.
    4. Walker, Stuart R.J. & Thies, Philipp R., 2022. "A life cycle assessment comparison of materials for a tidal stream turbine blade," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    5. Shalini Verma & Akshoy Ranjan Paul & Nawshad Haque, 2022. "Selected Environmental Impact Indicators Assessment of Wind Energy in India Using a Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Mohamed R. Gomaa & Hegazy Rezk & Ramadan J. Mustafa & Mujahed Al-Dhaifallah, 2019. "Evaluating the Environmental Impacts and Energy Performance of a Wind Farm System Utilizing the Life-Cycle Assessment Method: A Practical Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-25, August.
    7. Judge, Frances & McAuliffe, Fiona Devoy & Sperstad, Iver Bakken & Chester, Rachel & Flannery, Brian & Lynch, Katie & Murphy, Jimmy, 2019. "A lifecycle financial analysis model for offshore wind farms," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 370-383.
    8. Li, Qiangfeng & Duan, Huabo & Xie, Minghui & Kang, Peng & Ma, Yi & Zhong, Ruoyu & Gao, Tianming & Zhong, Weiqiong & Wen, Bojie & Bai, Feng & Vuppaladadiyam, Arun K., 2021. "Life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis of a 40 MW wind farm with consideration of the infrastructure," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Krzysztof Wrobel & Krzysztof Tomczewski & Artur Sliwinski & Andrzej Tomczewski, 2021. "Optimization of a Small Wind Power Plant for Annual Wind Speed Distribution," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    10. Laura Castro-Santos & Almudena Filgueira-Vizoso & Carlos Álvarez-Feal & Luis Carral, 2018. "Influence of Size on the Economic Feasibility of Floating Offshore Wind Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, November.
    11. Mahmoud G. Hemeida & Ashraf M. Hemeida & Tomonobu Senjyu & Dina Osheba, 2022. "Renewable Energy Resources Technologies and Life Cycle Assessment: Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-36, December.
    12. Michaela Gkantou & Carlos Rebelo & Charalampos Baniotopoulos, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Tall Onshore Hybrid Steel Wind Turbine Towers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Moussavi, S. & Barutha, P. & Dvorak, B., 2023. "Environmental life cycle assessment of a novel offshore wind energy design project: A United States based case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    14. Eva Segura & Rafael Morales & José A. Somolinos, 2019. "Influence of Automated Maneuvers on the Economic Feasibility of Tidal Energy Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-22, October.
    15. Xiaoxia Gao & Lu Xia & Lin Lu & Yonghua Li, 2019. "Analysis of Hong Kong’s Wind Energy: Power Potential, Development Constraints, and Experiences from Other Countries for Local Wind Energy Promotion Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Ferreira, Victor J. & Benveniste, Gabriela & Rapha, José I. & Corchero, Cristina & Domínguez-García, Jose Luis, 2023. "A holistic tool to assess the cost and environmental performance of floating offshore wind farms," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    17. Browning, Morgan S. & Lenox, Carol S., 2020. "Contribution of offshore wind to the power grid: U.S. air quality implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    18. Li, Jinying & Li, Sisi & Wu, Fan, 2020. "Research on carbon emission reduction benefit of wind power project based on life cycle assessment theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 456-468.
    19. Vanesa Rodríguez-Merchan & Claudia Ulloa-Tesser & Yannay Casas-Ledón, 2019. "Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    20. Elia, A. & Taylor, M. & Ó Gallachóir, B. & Rogan, F., 2020. "Wind turbine cost reduction: A detailed bottom-up analysis of innovation drivers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    21. Cyril Anak John & Lian See Tan & Jully Tan & Peck Loo Kiew & Azmi Mohd Shariff & Hairul Nazirah Abdul Halim, 2021. "Selection of Renewable Energy in Rural Area Via Life Cycle Assessment-Analytical Hierarchy Process (LCA-AHP): A Case Study of Tatau, Sarawak," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, October.
    22. Sathre, Roger & Gustavsson, Leif, 2021. "A lifecycle comparison of natural resource use and climate impact of biofuel and electric cars," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    23. Mendecka, Barbara & Lombardi, Lidia, 2019. "Life cycle environmental impacts of wind energy technologies: A review of simplified models and harmonization of the results," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 462-480.
    24. Nurullah Yildiz & Hassan Hemida & Charalampos Baniotopoulos, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Barge-Type Floating Wind Turbine and Comparison with Other Types of Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    25. Louise Christine Dammeier & Joyce H. C. Bosmans & Mark A. J. Huijbregts, 2023. "Variability in greenhouse gas footprints of the global wind farm fleet," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 272-282, February.

    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. Mohamed R. Gomaa & Hegazy Rezk & Ramadan J. Mustafa & Mujahed Al-Dhaifallah, 2019. "Evaluating the Environmental Impacts and Energy Performance of a Wind Farm System Utilizing the Life-Cycle Assessment Method: A Practical Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-25, August.
    2. Mendecka, Barbara & Lombardi, Lidia, 2019. "Life cycle environmental impacts of wind energy technologies: A review of simplified models and harmonization of the results," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 462-480.
    3. Campos-Guzmán, Verónica & García-Cáscales, M. Socorro & Espinosa, Nieves & Urbina, Antonio, 2019. "Life Cycle Analysis with Multi-Criteria Decision Making: A review of approaches for the sustainability evaluation of renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 343-366.
    4. Nugent, Daniel & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar PV and wind energy: A critical meta-survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 229-244.
    5. Kaldellis, J.K. & Apostolou, D., 2017. "Life cycle energy and carbon footprint of offshore wind energy. Comparison with onshore counterpart," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 72-84.
    6. Nurullah Yildiz & Hassan Hemida & Charalampos Baniotopoulos, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Barge-Type Floating Wind Turbine and Comparison with Other Types of Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Arvesen, Anders & Hertwich, Edgar G., 2012. "Assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of wind power: A review of present knowledge and research needs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5994-6006.
    8. Lombardi, Lidia & Mendecka, Barbara & Carnevale, Ennio & Stanek, Wojciech, 2018. "Environmental impacts of electricity production of micro wind turbines with vertical axis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PB), pages 553-564.
    9. Niklas Andersen & Ola Eriksson & Karl Hillman & Marita Wallhagen, 2016. "Wind Turbines’ End-of-Life: Quantification and Characterisation of Future Waste Materials on a National Level," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    10. Li, Jinying & Li, Sisi & Wu, Fan, 2020. "Research on carbon emission reduction benefit of wind power project based on life cycle assessment theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 456-468.
    11. Ozoemena, Matthew & Hasan, Reaz & Cheung, Wai Ming, 2016. "Analysis of technology improvement opportunities for a 1.5 MW wind turbine using a hybrid stochastic approach in life cycle assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 369-382.
    12. Michaela Gkantou & Carlos Rebelo & Charalampos Baniotopoulos, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Tall Onshore Hybrid Steel Wind Turbine Towers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Summerfield-Ryan, Oliver & Park, Susan, 2023. "The power of wind: The global wind energy industry's successes and failures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    14. Shalini Verma & Akshoy Ranjan Paul & Nawshad Haque, 2022. "Selected Environmental Impact Indicators Assessment of Wind Energy in India Using a Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    15. Alizadeh, Sadegh & Avami, Akram, 2021. "Development of a framework for the sustainability evaluation of renewable and fossil fuel power plants using integrated LCA-emergy analysis: A case study in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1548-1564.
    16. Cao, Yijia & Wang, Xifan & Li, Yong & Tan, Yi & Xing, Jianbo & Fan, Ruixiang, 2016. "A comprehensive study on low-carbon impact of distributed generations on regional power grids: A case of Jiangxi provincial power grid in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 766-778.
    17. Louise Christine Dammeier & Joyce H. C. Bosmans & Mark A. J. Huijbregts, 2023. "Variability in greenhouse gas footprints of the global wind farm fleet," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 272-282, February.
    18. Yang, Jin & Chen, Bin, 2013. "Integrated evaluation of embodied energy, greenhouse gas emission and economic performance of a typical wind farm in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 559-568.
    19. Savino, Matteo M. & Manzini, Riccardo & Della Selva, Vincenzo & Accorsi, Riccardo, 2017. "A new model for environmental and economic evaluation of renewable energy systems: The case of wind turbines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 739-752.
    20. Nian, Victor & Liu, Yang & Zhong, Sheng, 2019. "Life cycle cost-benefit analysis of offshore wind energy under the climatic conditions in Southeast Asia – Setting the bottom-line for deployment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 1003-1014.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:2022-:d:152596. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.