Browsing by Author "Azapagic, Adisa"

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Citation - WoS: 80
Citation - Scopus: 87
Environmental Impacts of Small-Scale Hybrid Energy Systems: Coupling Solar Photovoltaics and Lithium-Ion Batteries
(Elsevier, 2018) Uctug, Fehmi Gorkem; Azapagic, Adisa
One of the benefits of hybrid solar PV-battery systems is that they can reduce grid dependency and help balance electricity supply and demand. However, their environmental impacts and benefits remain underexplored. This study considers for the first time life cycle environmental impacts of domestic-scale PV-battery systems in Turkey, integrating multi-crystalline PV and lithium-ion battery. The impacts were estimated for both individual installations and at the national level, considering different regions across the country and taking into account their insolation and other climatic differences. Electricity generation and storage were modelled on an hourly basis taking into account consumer behaviour. The results show that the system can meet between 12.5% and 18.4% of the household's annual electricity needs. On a life cycle basis, it generates 4.7-8 times more energy than it consumes. Solar PV is the major contributor to most impacts (75%-81%). An exception is human toxicity which is mainly due to the battery (66%). The hybrid system has 1.6-82.6 times lower impacts than grid electricity. Assuming a very modest uptake at the national level (2%-8%), the use of hybrid systems would save 558,000 t CO2-eq./yr compared to grid electricity. Thus, these results demonstrate clearly the environmental benefits of these hybrid systems. Together with the financial and energy security benefits for both the country and the consumer, this provides a strong impetus for their wider deployment. However, this will be difficult to achieve, as there are no incentives for battery storage. Therefore, it is recommended that relevant legislation be introduced to stimulate future uptake of hybrid PV-battery systems. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Citation - WoS: 31
Citation - Scopus: 32
Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Domestic Solar Water Heaters in Turkey: the Effect of Different Climatic Regions
(Elsevier Science Bv, 2018) Uctug, Fehmi Gorkem; Azapagic, Adisa
Solar water heating (SWH) systems could help reduce environmental impacts from energy use but their performance and impacts depend on the climate. This paper considers how these vary for residential SWH across four different climatic regions in Turkey, ranging from hot to cold climates. Life cycle assessment was used for these purposes. The results suggest that in the hotter regions, the impacts of SWH are 1.5-2 times lower than those of natural gas boilers. A similar trend was observed in the two colder regions except for acidification, which was four times higher than that of the boiler. The raw materials and electricity required for the manufacturing of the systemswere found to be themost important contributors to the impacts. Recycling themajor components instead of landfilling reduced human toxicity potential by 50% but had only a small effect (5%) on the other impacts. The impactswere highly sensitive to the type of material used for the construction of the hot storage tank, butwere not affected by transport and end-of life recycling. The only exception to the latter is human toxicity potential which decreased significantly with greater recycling. Extrapolating the results at the national level showed that SWH systems could reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions in Turkey by 790 kt CO2-eq. and would save the economy $162.5 million per year through the avoided imports of natural gas. All other impacts would also be reduced significantly (3-32 times), except for acidification which would double. Therefore, SWH systems should be deployed more extensively in Turkey but government incentivesmay be needed to stimulate the uptake. (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.