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A strategic impact assessment of hydropower plants in alpine and non-alpine areas of Europe

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  • Mahmud, M. A. Parvez
  • Huda, Nazmul
  • Farjana, Shahjadi Hisan
  • Lang, Candace

Abstract

Hydropower is the widely used source of clean energy which includes some hazardous emissions that affect human health, ecosystems, and resources. However, in spite of an enormous amount of hydropower generation in Europe, no research has been carried out in evaluating the hazardous emissions from the plants located in alpine and non-alpine areas. Therefore, this paper will analyse the comparative environmental impacts of hydropower plants in alpine and non-alpine areas of Europe by a systematic life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The impacts are estimated by the ReCiPe 2016, Impact 2002+, Eco-points 97 methods under a number of effect-assessing indicators such as global warming, ozone formation, eco-toxicity, water consumption, acidification, eutrophication, ionizing radiation, carcinogenic radiation, ozone depletion, and land use. Moreover, the fossil-fuel-based power consumptions and the greenhouse-gas emissions in the life-cycle of hydropower plants in both locations are estimated using the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, respectively. The outcomes reveal that hydropower plants of alpine regions offer a better environmental profile for the global-warming indicator (2.97×10-5 kg CO2-eq/MJ) than non-alpine plants (3.92×10-4 kg CO2-eq/MJ), but the effects are nearly identical for the other indicators. Overall, the hydropower plants of non-alpine regions are responsible for climate change with a rate 10 times as high as for alpine ones. The findings of this research will play a pivotal role in promoting sustainable production of hydropower, especially the full potentials of the alpine region, and thus leading towards environmentally friendly clean renewable electricity generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahmud, M. A. Parvez & Huda, Nazmul & Farjana, Shahjadi Hisan & Lang, Candace, 2019. "A strategic impact assessment of hydropower plants in alpine and non-alpine areas of Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 198-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:250:y:2019:i:c:p:198-214
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.05.007
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    3. Selim Karkour & Yuki Ichisugi & Amila Abeynayaka & Norihiro Itsubo, 2020. "External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-35, March.
    4. Giambattista Guidi & Anna Carmela Violante & Simona De Iuliis, 2023. "Environmental Impact of Electricity Generation Technologies: A Comparison between Conventional, Nuclear, and Renewable Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-33, November.
    5. Hosseini, Seyed Mohsen & Kanagaraj, N. & Sadeghi, Shahrbanoo & Yousefi, Hossein, 2022. "Midpoint and endpoint impacts of electricity generation by renewable and nonrenewable technologies: A case study of Alberta, Canada," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 22-39.
    6. Liu, Dong & Li, Chaoshun & Tan, Xiaoqiang & Lu, Xueding & Malik, O.P., 2021. "Damping characteristics analysis of hydropower units under full operating conditions and control parameters: Accurate quantitative evaluation based on refined models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    7. Violeta Motuzienė & Kęstutis Čiuprinskas & Artur Rogoža & Vilūnė Lapinskienė, 2022. "A Review of the Life Cycle Analysis Results for Different Energy Conversion Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    8. Rahman, Abidur & Farrok, Omar & Haque, Md Mejbaul, 2022. "Environmental impact of renewable energy source based electrical power plants: Solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, tidal, ocean, and osmotic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
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