The demand of temporary buildings is increasing in the previous years as it offers effective solution for a range of building needs. However, these structures release more emissions than the traditional buildings and exhibit a greater environmental impact. the role of building services and renewable power generation systems help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption which makes it more critical than ever. In this context, this research is adopted to focus on power generation systems in temporary structure that can be installed and used in mega events like Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic games. The goal is to define environmental criteria to check their impact and assess their level of sustainability based on life cycle assessment (LCA) as well discuss ways of minimizing and decreasing their environmental impact by promoting the use of circular economy principles and adopting business case models. Two main power generation technologies were studied, a photovoltaic (PV) system and a combined heat and power (CHP). For the PV system, four technologies were modelled and compared to each other in temporary usage phase including crystalline and thin film technologies. The life cycle assessment was conducted in accordance with ISO 14040- 44 and EN 15804 standards. While the model is structured using Brightway2 software with the ecoinvent V3.8 as a secondary database.The study revealed that the production phase of photovoltaic panel accounts for the majority of environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of all examined PV technologies. Specifically, the crystalline technology contributes the most, with 76% and 67% of the overall environmental impact for single crystalline and ribbon silicon, respectively, followed by the mounting system and the inverter according to Climate Change impact category, while the inverter contribution was the leading with 38% in terms of Resource Use Mineral and Metals category. Improving the efficiency leads to 30% reduction of the carbon footprint according to the sensitivity analysis done. Thin film technologies showed better results from environmental perspective, On the other side for CHP unit, the environmental impact was mainly due to the metals used in all inventories, then the use phase due to the greenhouse gases released. Further analysis was done by adopting circular business models for both systems. Finally, a rating system has been developed based on the analysis, to facilitate the integration of LCA with a rating system to assist manufacturers and users in evaluating the proposed systems for temporary usage. It worth mentioning that a rating system for temporary usage differs in terms of environmental impact as more criteria will be highlighted and given more score than their usual performance if they will be rated in full life span, due to their high environmental impact in temporary bases which is the main difference between temporary and non-temporary life spans.
La richiesta di edifici temporanei è aumentata negli ultimi anni poiché offre soluzioni efficaci per una serie di esigenze edilizie. Tuttavia, queste strutture emettono più emissioni rispetto agli edifici tradizionali ed hanno un impatto ambientale maggiore. Il ruolo dei servizi di costruzione e dei sistemi di generazione di energia rinnovabile aiuta a ridurre le emissioni di gas serra e il consumo di energia, rendendo questo aspetto più critico che mai. In questo contesto, questa ricerca si concentra sui sistemi di generazione di energia nelle strutture temporanee che possono essere installati e utilizzati in eventi di grande portata come i Giochi Olimpici di Milano-Cortina 2026. L'obiettivo è definire criteri ambientali per verificare il loro impatto e valutare il loro livello di sostenibilità sulla base della valutazione del ciclo di vita (LCA) e discutere modi per minimizzare e ridurre il loro impatto ambientale promuovendo l'uso dei principi dell'economia circolare e adottando modelli di business. Sono stati studiati due principali tecnologie di generazione di energia, un sistema fotovoltaico (PV) e un sistema di cogenerazione (CHP). Per il sistema PV, sono state modellate quattro tecnologie e confrontate tra loro nella fase di utilizzo temporaneo, tra cui tecnologie cristalline e a film sottile. La valutazione del ciclo di vita è stata condotta in conformità agli standard ISO 14040-44 e EN 15804. Il modello è stato strutturato utilizzando il software Brightway2 con l'ecoinvent V3.8 come database secondario. Lo studio ha rivelato che la fase di produzione del pannello fotovoltaico rappresenta la maggior parte degli impatti ambientali durante l'intero ciclo di vita di tutte le tecnologie PV esaminate. In particolare, la tecnologia cristallina contribuisce maggiormente, con il 76% e il 67% dell'impatto ambientale complessivo per il silicio monocristallino e a nastro, rispettivamente, seguita dal sistema di montaggio e dall'inverter secondo la categoria di impatto sul cambiamento climatico, mentre il contributo dell'inverter è stato il più elevato con il 38% in termini di utilizzo di risorse minerarie e metalliche. Migliorare l'efficienza porta a una riduzione del 30% dell'impronta di carbonio secondo l'analisi di sensitività effettuata. Le tecnologie a film sottile hanno mostrato risultati migliori dal punto di vista ambientale. D'altra parte, per l'unità CHP, l'impatto ambientale era principalmente dovuto ai metalli utilizzati in tutti gli inventari, quindi alla fase di utilizzo a causa dei gas serra rilasciati. È stata effettuata un'ulteriore analisi adottando modelli di business circolare per entrambi i sistemi. Infine, è stato sviluppato un sistema di valutazione basato sull'analisi, per facilitare l'integrazione della LCA con un sistema di valutazione per assistere i produttor.
Defining environmental criteria for power generation systems in temporary structures based on LCA and Circular economy principles
Awad, Mohamed Ahmed Elmortada Mohamed
2022/2023
Abstract
The demand of temporary buildings is increasing in the previous years as it offers effective solution for a range of building needs. However, these structures release more emissions than the traditional buildings and exhibit a greater environmental impact. the role of building services and renewable power generation systems help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption which makes it more critical than ever. In this context, this research is adopted to focus on power generation systems in temporary structure that can be installed and used in mega events like Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic games. The goal is to define environmental criteria to check their impact and assess their level of sustainability based on life cycle assessment (LCA) as well discuss ways of minimizing and decreasing their environmental impact by promoting the use of circular economy principles and adopting business case models. Two main power generation technologies were studied, a photovoltaic (PV) system and a combined heat and power (CHP). For the PV system, four technologies were modelled and compared to each other in temporary usage phase including crystalline and thin film technologies. The life cycle assessment was conducted in accordance with ISO 14040- 44 and EN 15804 standards. While the model is structured using Brightway2 software with the ecoinvent V3.8 as a secondary database.The study revealed that the production phase of photovoltaic panel accounts for the majority of environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of all examined PV technologies. Specifically, the crystalline technology contributes the most, with 76% and 67% of the overall environmental impact for single crystalline and ribbon silicon, respectively, followed by the mounting system and the inverter according to Climate Change impact category, while the inverter contribution was the leading with 38% in terms of Resource Use Mineral and Metals category. Improving the efficiency leads to 30% reduction of the carbon footprint according to the sensitivity analysis done. Thin film technologies showed better results from environmental perspective, On the other side for CHP unit, the environmental impact was mainly due to the metals used in all inventories, then the use phase due to the greenhouse gases released. Further analysis was done by adopting circular business models for both systems. Finally, a rating system has been developed based on the analysis, to facilitate the integration of LCA with a rating system to assist manufacturers and users in evaluating the proposed systems for temporary usage. It worth mentioning that a rating system for temporary usage differs in terms of environmental impact as more criteria will be highlighted and given more score than their usual performance if they will be rated in full life span, due to their high environmental impact in temporary bases which is the main difference between temporary and non-temporary life spans.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/210428