Wind power electricity: the bigger the turbine, the greener the electricity?

ABSTRACT: Wind energy is a fast-growing and promising renewable energy source. The investment costs of wind turbines have decreased over the years, making wind energy economically competitive to conventionally produced electricity. Size scaling in the form of a power law, experience curves and progress rates are used to estimate the cost development of ever-larger turbines. In life cycle assessment, scaling and progress rates are seldom applied to estimate the environmental impacts of wind energy. This study quantifies whether the trend toward larger turbines affects the environmental profile of the generated electricity. Previously published life cycle inventories were combined with an engineering-based scaling approach as well as European wind power statistics. The results showed that the larger t

SUBMITTER: Caduff M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3388778 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature