Dielectric-based 3D building-integrated concentrating photovoltaic modules: An environmental life-cycle assessment

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2017Suggested citation
Baig, Hasan;
Lamnatou, Chrysovalantou;
Chemisana Villegas, Daniel;
Mallick, Tapas K.;
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(2017)
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Dielectric-based 3D building-integrated concentrating photovoltaic modules: An environmental life-cycle assessment.
Energy and Buildings, 2017, vol. 138, p. 514–525.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.12.038.
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The environmental profile of a dielectric-based 3D Building-Integrated Concentrating Photovoltaic(BICPV) device is investigated. Several scenarios and life-cycle impact assessment methods are adopted,including the newly-developed method ReCiPe. Multiple environmental indicators are evaluated fordifferent cities: Barcelona, Seville, Paris, Marseille, London and Aberdeen. The results from the mate-rial manufacturing phase demonstrate that the PV cells and the concentrator are the components withthe highest contribution to the total impact of the BICPV, based on ReCiPe, Eco-indicator 99, USEtox,CED (cumulative energy demand), GWP (global warming potential) according to different time hori-zons (20a, 100a, 500a) and Ecological footprint. Among the studied cities, Barcelona, Marseille andSeville present the lowest GWP and CED: less than 142 g CO2.eq/kWh and less than 2.9 MJprim/kWh,based on all the studied scenarios. Moreover, by considering 30-years lifespan, Barcelona, Marseille andSeville show 0.0107–0.0111 ReCiPe Pts/kWh while London, Paris and Aberdeen present 0.0161-0.0173ReCiPe Pts/kWh. Results about greenhouse-gas-, energy-, ReCiPe-payback times and energy-return-on-investment are also presented and critically discussed. In addition, comparisons with the literature andissues for the improvement of the environmental profile of the proposed system are included.