Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Towards life cycle sustainability assessment: an implementation to photovoltaic modules

  • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The main goal of the paper is to carry out the first implementation of sustainability assessment of the assembly step of photovoltaic (PV) modules production by Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) and the development of the Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard (LCSD), in order to compare LCSA results of different PV modules. The applicability and practicability of the LCSD is reported thanks to a case study. The results show that LCSA can be considered a valuable tool to support decision-making processes that involve different stakeholders with different knowledge and background.

Method

The sustainability performance of the production step of Italian and German polycrystalline silicon modules is assessed using the LCSD. The LCSD is an application oriented to the presentation of an LCSA study. LCSA comprises life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing and social LCA (S-LCA). The primary data collected for the German module are related to two different years, and this led to the evaluation of three different scenarios: a German 2008 module, a German 2009 module, and an Italian 2008 module.

Results and discussion

According to the LCA results based on Ecoindicator 99, the German module for example has lower values of land use [1.77 potential disappeared fractions (PDF) m2/year] and acidification (3.61 PDF m2/year) than the Italian one (land use 1.99 PDF m2/year, acidification 3.83 PDF m2/year). However, the German module has higher global warming potential [4.5E–05 disability-adjusted life years (DALY)] than the Italian one [3.00E−05 DALY]. The economic costs of the German module are lower than the Italian one, e.g. the cost of electricity per FU for the German module is 0.12 €/m2 compared to the Italian 0.85 €/m2. The S-LCA results show significant differences between German module 2008 and 2009 that represent respectively the best and the worst overall social performances of the three considered scenarios compared by LCSD. The aggregate LCSD results show that the German module 2008 has the best overall sustainability performance and a score of 665 points out of 1,000 (and a colour scale of light green). The Italian module 2008 has the worst overall sustainability performance with a score of 404 points, while the German module 2009 is in the middle with 524 points.

Conclusions

The LCSA and LCSD methodologies represent an applicable framework as a tool for supporting decision-making processes which consider sustainable production and consumption. However, there are still challenges for a meaningful application, particularly the questions of the selection of social LCA indicators and how to weigh sets for the LCSD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alsema EA (2000) Energy pay-back time and CO2 emissions of PV systems. Prog Photovolt Res Appl 8:17–25

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alsema EA, De Wild MJ (2006) Environmental impacts of crystalline silicon photovoltaic module production. Presented at 13th CIRP Intern Conf on life cycle engineering

  • Asdrubali F (2009) The role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the design of sustainable buildings: thermal and sound insulating materials, Presented at Euronoise, Edinburgh, Scotland, 26–28 October 2009

  • Dreyer LC, Hauschild MZ, Schierbeck J (2006) A framework for social life impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 11(2):88–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EPIA (2010) “Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics until 2014”. www.epia.org. Accessed May 2010

  • Finkbeiner M, Reimann K, Ackermann R (2008) Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) for products and processes. SETAC Europe 18th Annual Meeting, 25–29 May 2008, Warsaw

  • Finkbeiner M, Schau E, Lehmann A, Traverso M (2010) Towards life cycle sustainability assessment. Sustainability 2(10):3309–3322, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/10/3309/, last call 15th Dec. 2010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fthenakis VM, Kim HC (2009) Photovoltaics: life-cycle analyses. Sol Energy 85:1609–1628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GSE (2011) Gestore Servizi Energetici. www.gse.it. Accessed November 2011

  • Hardi P, Semple P (2000) The dashboard of sustainability—from a metaphor to an operational set of indices, in Fifth International Conference on Social Science Methodology: Cologne, Germany, 2000

  • Hunkeler D, Lichtenvort K, Rebitzer G, Andreas Ciroth A, Huppes G, Lichtenvort K, Rüdenauer I, Stehen B (2008) Environmental life cycle costing. SETAC Publications, Brussels

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ISO 14040 (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework. International Organisation for Standardization

  • ISO 14044 (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines. International Organisation for Standardization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Jesinghaus J (2000) On the art of aggregating apples & oranges. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan

    Google Scholar 

  • Jǿrgensen A, Le Bocq A, Nazarkina L, Hauschild M (2008) Methodologies for social life cycle assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13(2):96–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloepffer W (2003) Life-cycle based methods for sustainable product development. Int J Life Cycle Assess 8:157–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloepffer W (2008) Life cycle sustainability assessment of products. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13(2):89–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koroneos C, Stylos N, Moussiopoulos N (2006a) LCA of multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic systems: present situation and future perspectives. Int J Life Cycle Assess 11(2):129–136

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koroneos C, Stylos N, Moussiopoulos N (2006b) LCA of multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic systems: application on an island economy. Int J Life Cycle Assess 11(3):183–188

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leleman R, Albrecht J, Dewulf J (2011) Life cycle analysis to estimate the environmental impact of residential photovoltaic systems in regions with low solar irradiation. Renew Sust Energ Rev 15:267–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PE International, LBP (2009) GaBi 4 Software-System und Datenbank zur Ganzheitlichen Bilanzierung, 2009th edn. Echterdingen, Stuttgart, 2007

    Google Scholar 

  • PRé Consultants (2010) SimaPro 7, Pré-Product Ecology Consultants, The Netherlands, http://www.pre.nl Accessed April 2011

  • PRé Consultants BV (2008) Eco-Indicator 99. Principles. http://www.pre.nl/eco-indicator99/eco-indicator_99.htm Accessed Feb 2011

  • REN21 (2011) Renewables 2011 Global Status Report. Version 2.1. 08/2011 (Paris: REN21 Secretariat)

  • Swarr TE, Hunkeler D, Kloepffer W, Pesonen H-L, CIroth A, Brent AC, Pagan R (2011) Environmental life cycle costing: a code of practice. SETAC publication

  • Traverso M, Finkbeiner M (2009) Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard. Proceeding of the 4th International Conference on LCM2009, 6–9 September 2009, Cape Town, South Africa

  • UNEP/SETAC (2009) Guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products. United Nations Environment Programme

  • UNEP/SETAC (2012) Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, United Nations Environment Program, Paris SETAC Life Cycle Initiative United Nations Environment Programme

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universitaet Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, Berlin, 10623, Germany

    Marzia Traverso & Matthias Finkbeiner

  2. CIRIAF, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Perugia, 06125, Perugia, Italy

    Francesco Asdrubali

  3. Solsonica S.p.a, Viale delle Scienze, 5, 02015, Cittaducale, Rieti, Italy

    Annalisa Francia

Authors
  1. Marzia Traverso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francesco Asdrubali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Annalisa Francia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Matthias Finkbeiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marzia Traverso.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Mariska de Wild-Scholten

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 1,073 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Traverso, M., Asdrubali, F., Francia, A. et al. Towards life cycle sustainability assessment: an implementation to photovoltaic modules. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17, 1068–1079 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0433-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0433-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation