Análisis del impacto ambiental de las tecnologías termo-solares de concentración, usando la herramienta ACV (análisis del ciclo de vida)

Abstract

This research is part of a project named “Elaboration of a map of solar direct normal irradiance and analysis of industrial applications, techno-economic feasibility, and environment impact of hybrid solar thermal systems for Ecuador,” proposed by the National Institute of Energetic Efficiency and Renewable Energy - INER (the acronym for the name in Spanish), and developed by the University of Cuenca. The project includes among its main objectives: The development of a map of solar direct normal irradiance (DNI), the analysis of the techno-economic feasibility of alternatives of generation with solar thermal concentrators and its possible hybridization with other fuels such as natural gas and biomass, and the evaluation of the global environmental impact of the concentrators through the life cycle assessment (LCA). This investigation focuses in the last objective presented previously; thereby contributing to choose the technology that best meets the requirements of efficiency, cost and environmental impact reduction. For this study, it will be deeply investigated each one of the four technologies of solar thermal concentrating systems that are required to be analyzed establishing criteria for the comparison based on the methodology proposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the standards 14040 and 14044 to obtain a full inventory of inputs and outputs of energy and matter, using SimaPro 8 for the LCA used by the INER.