Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources
- Author
- Spiros Gkousis, Gwenny Thomassen (UGent) , Kris Welkenhuysen and Tine Compernolle
- Organization
- Abstract
- Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source with large unexploited potential. Medium enthalpy deep geothermal resources are commonly used in Europe to provide heat. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on such applications are scarce and their majority follows a static approach. We describe a two-step dynamic LCA framework for deep geothermal heating applications to more accurately estimate their environmental perfor-mance. A semi-dynamic approach considers the temporal evolution of the processes and a fully-dynamic approach also applies dynamic impact assessment methods. We investigate a deep geothermal heating plant located in Northern Belgium for which site-specific data are available. Compared to a static LCA, the dynamic methods find a 50-129% higher global warming impact. Analogous differences are found for eleven other im-pacts. Regardless, the global warming impact remains lower than for natural gas heating. Large impact variations are also observed when the average European electricity mix is considered to supply the plant, indicating that LCA studies on pumped geothermal heating plants that neglect the time parameter could be largely mis-estimating the impacts. The dynamic LCA also calculates the impact evolution through time. We find that the continuation of the plant operation after a time period might not lead to considerable impact reduction. Such information is hidden in a static approach and could be used for the optimization of geothermal development strategies. Dynamic methods also facilitate the design of targeted impact mitigation strategies and the com-parison between alternative heating systems. We recommend the application of dynamic LCA on other types of geothermal energy plants and other energy-related applications.
- Keywords
- IMPACT ASSESSMENT, ASSESSMENT LCA, GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY, CLIMATE-CHANGE, WIND POWER, SYSTEMS, TIME, EMISSIONS, Dynamic LCA, Hydrothermal resources, Environmental assessment, Geothermal heating, Renewable energy
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01GSF6YKS9M7KZ2DM1A7QP7PSH
- MLA
- Gkousis, Spiros, et al. “Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment of Geothermal Heat Production from Medium Enthalpy Hydrothermal Resources.” APPLIED ENERGY, vol. 328, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120176.
- APA
- Gkousis, S., Thomassen, G., Welkenhuysen, K., & Compernolle, T. (2022). Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources. APPLIED ENERGY, 328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120176
- Chicago author-date
- Gkousis, Spiros, Gwenny Thomassen, Kris Welkenhuysen, and Tine Compernolle. 2022. “Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment of Geothermal Heat Production from Medium Enthalpy Hydrothermal Resources.” APPLIED ENERGY 328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120176.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Gkousis, Spiros, Gwenny Thomassen, Kris Welkenhuysen, and Tine Compernolle. 2022. “Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment of Geothermal Heat Production from Medium Enthalpy Hydrothermal Resources.” APPLIED ENERGY 328. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120176.
- Vancouver
- 1.Gkousis S, Thomassen G, Welkenhuysen K, Compernolle T. Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources. APPLIED ENERGY. 2022;328.
- IEEE
- [1]S. Gkousis, G. Thomassen, K. Welkenhuysen, and T. Compernolle, “Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources,” APPLIED ENERGY, vol. 328, 2022.
@article{01GSF6YKS9M7KZ2DM1A7QP7PSH,
abstract = {{Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source with large unexploited potential. Medium enthalpy deep geothermal resources are commonly used in Europe to provide heat. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on such applications are scarce and their majority follows a static approach. We describe a two-step dynamic LCA framework for deep geothermal heating applications to more accurately estimate their environmental perfor-mance. A semi-dynamic approach considers the temporal evolution of the processes and a fully-dynamic approach also applies dynamic impact assessment methods. We investigate a deep geothermal heating plant located in Northern Belgium for which site-specific data are available. Compared to a static LCA, the dynamic methods find a 50-129% higher global warming impact. Analogous differences are found for eleven other im-pacts. Regardless, the global warming impact remains lower than for natural gas heating. Large impact variations are also observed when the average European electricity mix is considered to supply the plant, indicating that LCA studies on pumped geothermal heating plants that neglect the time parameter could be largely mis-estimating the impacts. The dynamic LCA also calculates the impact evolution through time. We find that the continuation of the plant operation after a time period might not lead to considerable impact reduction. Such information is hidden in a static approach and could be used for the optimization of geothermal development strategies. Dynamic methods also facilitate the design of targeted impact mitigation strategies and the com-parison between alternative heating systems. We recommend the application of dynamic LCA on other types of geothermal energy plants and other energy-related applications.}},
articleno = {{120176}},
author = {{Gkousis, Spiros and Thomassen, Gwenny and Welkenhuysen, Kris and Compernolle, Tine}},
issn = {{0306-2619}},
journal = {{APPLIED ENERGY}},
keywords = {{IMPACT ASSESSMENT,ASSESSMENT LCA,GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES,ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS,RENEWABLE ENERGY,CLIMATE-CHANGE,WIND POWER,SYSTEMS,TIME,EMISSIONS,Dynamic LCA,Hydrothermal resources,Environmental assessment,Geothermal heating,Renewable energy}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{20}},
title = {{Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120176}},
volume = {{328}},
year = {{2022}},
}
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