Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage: Two-Tank Indirect and Thermocline
Abstract
In the United States, concentrating solar power (CSP) is one of the most promising renewable energy (RE) technologies for reduction of electric sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and for rapid capacity expansion. It is also one of the most price-competitive RE technologies, thanks in large measure to decades of field experience and consistent improvements in design. One of the key design features that makes CSP more attractive than many other RE technologies, like solar photovoltaics and wind, is the potential for including relatively low-cost and efficient thermal energy storage (TES), which can smooth the daily fluctuation of electricity production and extend its duration into the evening peak hours or longer. Because operational environmental burdens are typically small for RE technologies, life cycle assessment (LCA) is recognized as the most appropriate analytical approach for determining their environmental impacts of these technologies, including CSP. An LCA accounts for impacts from all stages in the development, operation, and decommissioning of a CSP plant, including such upstream stages as the extraction of raw materials used in system components, manufacturing of those components, and construction of the plant. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is undertaking an LCA of modern CSP plants, starting with thosemore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 964207
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-6A2-45857
TRN: US200922%%138
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-99-GO10337
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Third International Conference on Energy Sustainability, 19-23 July 2009, San Francisco, California
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 25 ENERGY STORAGE; 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; CAPACITY; CONSTRUCTION; DECOMMISSIONING; DESIGN; ELECTRICITY; ENERGY STORAGE; ENGINEERS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; FLUCTUATIONS; GREENHOUSE GASES; LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT; MANUFACTURING; NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY; PRODUCTION; RAW MATERIALS; LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT; CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER; CSP; SOLAR; RE TECHNOLOGIES; THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE; GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS; GHG; TES; Energy Analysis
Citation Formats
Heath, G, Turchi, C, Burkhardt, J, Kutscher, C, and Decker, T. Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage: Two-Tank Indirect and Thermocline. United States: N. p., 2009.
Web. doi:10.1115/ES2009-90402.
Heath, G, Turchi, C, Burkhardt, J, Kutscher, C, & Decker, T. Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage: Two-Tank Indirect and Thermocline. United States. https://doi.org/10.1115/ES2009-90402
Heath, G, Turchi, C, Burkhardt, J, Kutscher, C, and Decker, T. 2009.
"Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage: Two-Tank Indirect and Thermocline". United States. https://doi.org/10.1115/ES2009-90402. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/964207.
@article{osti_964207,
title = {Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage: Two-Tank Indirect and Thermocline},
author = {Heath, G and Turchi, C and Burkhardt, J and Kutscher, C and Decker, T},
abstractNote = {In the United States, concentrating solar power (CSP) is one of the most promising renewable energy (RE) technologies for reduction of electric sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and for rapid capacity expansion. It is also one of the most price-competitive RE technologies, thanks in large measure to decades of field experience and consistent improvements in design. One of the key design features that makes CSP more attractive than many other RE technologies, like solar photovoltaics and wind, is the potential for including relatively low-cost and efficient thermal energy storage (TES), which can smooth the daily fluctuation of electricity production and extend its duration into the evening peak hours or longer. Because operational environmental burdens are typically small for RE technologies, life cycle assessment (LCA) is recognized as the most appropriate analytical approach for determining their environmental impacts of these technologies, including CSP. An LCA accounts for impacts from all stages in the development, operation, and decommissioning of a CSP plant, including such upstream stages as the extraction of raw materials used in system components, manufacturing of those components, and construction of the plant. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is undertaking an LCA of modern CSP plants, starting with those of parabolic trough design.},
doi = {10.1115/ES2009-90402},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/964207},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}