Life Cycle Assessment of Power Generation System : Analytic Methods and LCCO₂ Evaluation

Abstract

This paper focuses on power generation systems and reviews the analytic method of LCA from past to present. Noted results of life cycle CO₂ emissions (LCCO₂) and some problems in evaluating LCCO₂ are shown for grid power, renewable energy power and dispersed power. Net energy ratio, the ratio of the total energy production to the input energy except fuels, was an important index that shows how efficient the power generation technology is. Net energy ratio, however, was replaced with LCCO₂ with the growing interest in global warming and the spread of LCA. Authorized results are known regarding LCCO₂ of grid power and main renewable energy power. On the other hand, there remain some difficult problems regarding LCCO₂ of dispersed power utilizing hydrogen or biomass in terms of data acquisition and evaluation method.