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The Carbon Footprint of a Concrete Wind Tower through Life Cycle Assessment
Dalarna University, School of Information and Engineering.
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This research is performed to set up a model to determine the lifecycle impact of a concrete wind tower on climate change. The model is created with a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to form a carbon footprint. First, the goal and scope are determined, and then an inventory is made. The inventory contains the in-and outputs of the tower construction and demolition. Within the inventory, emissions for each process are determined. Then an impact assessment is done, and results are interpreted. The goal of this research is to assess a concrete tower’s carbon footprint over its life span. The life span includes all activities related to the construction, use, demolition and recycling or reuse related to the concrete wind tower. The tower's location is in South-Africa. Since the developer claims that no maintenance is needed, the use of the tower is considered not to have an impact. It is assumed that contractors demolish the tower after 20 years. The analysis resulted in a total impact of 2031 ton carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq.), with an energy payback time of 6,7 months. When recycling is considered, the impact of the tower is 1778 ton CO2 eq. Recycling creates a saving of 11% in CO2 emissions. The recycling of steel is mainly responsible for these savings. The impact of the LCA assessment showed that only the materials steel and concrete have a relevant impact on the towers life cycle. Manufacturing of the tower is responsible for 88% of the total emissions. Manufacturing includes the production of the separate tower parts from cradle-to-gate. Transport is responsible for 10% of the total emissions, and assembly and demolition are responsible for 2% of the total emissions. This is because the equipment for construction and demolition uses a small amount of energy compared to other processes. Of all the materials, steel is responsible for 59% of the total CO2 emissions, and concrete is responsible for 41%. The impact of other materials is negligible. Over the lifespan the tower itself is responsible for 35% of the total impact, this is slightly more than the foundation, which causes 34% of the total impact. Transportation causes 10% of the impact, the preassembly slabs 9%, the connections 7%, the adapters 4% and grout 1%. The studyhas several uncertainties which are mainly caused by a lack of knowledge in material production. Different emission factors for cement production create 5% uncertainty in CO2 emissions, and different recycling values of steel and different transportation distances both create uncertainty of 10% in CO2 emissions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021.
Keywords [en]
Life CycleAnalysis(LCA), Concrete, Wind tower.
National Category
Energy Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-37791OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-37791DiVA, id: diva2:1580580
Subject / course
Energy Technology
Available from: 2021-07-15 Created: 2021-07-15

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CiteExportLink to record
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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf