Skip to main content

Comprehensive life cycle assessment of large wind turbines in the US

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy volume 21, pages 887–903 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

The goal of this study was to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for large onshore wind turbines in the US, including all phases of the turbine’s life cycle separately (materials acquisition, manufacturing, transportation, installation, operation and maintenance, and end of life) and multiple impact categories (environmental, human health, resource consumption). Particular attention was given to make the installation and maintenance phases complete and transparent. The contribution of this study is that it is the first comprehensive LCA for large wind turbines in the US, where different transport distances (including overseas transport of turbine parts), truck emission standards, mixes of electricity sources, and waste disposal practices will affect impacts, compared to those conducted for other countries. It is also the first comprehensive LCA to examine separately all 6 phases of the turbine’s life cycle (in particular separating manufacturing from raw material acquisition/installation) and the first to evaluate turbine lifespan as a sensitivity parameter. The study was conducted for 200 Gamesa 2-MW wind turbines located near Abilene, Texas. SimaPro8 software was used for modeling, according to ISO 14040 standards. The manufacturing phase contributed the greatest overall impacts, which was consistent with other studies; hence, alternative methods of manufacturing should be explored to reduce impacts. Installation, transportation, maintenance, and raw materials acquisition ranked second through fifth, respectively. Consistent with other studies, end-of-life ranked last, which means that the disposal method (landfilling or combustion) for turbine parts which are not recycled makes little difference in terms of the overall turbine life cycle.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

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

Fig. 1

(adapted from D’Souza et al. 2011)

Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

References

  • Abeliotis K, Pactiti D (2014) Assessment of the environmental impacts of a wind farm in central Greece during its life cycle. Int J Renew Energy Res 4(3):580–585

    Google Scholar 

  • American Wind Energy Association (2017) US wind industry annual market report: executive summary. https://www.awea.org/AnnualMarketReport.aspx?ItemNumber=11563&RDtoken=34167&userID=. Accessed May 2018

  • Ardente F, Beccali M, Cellura M, Lo Brano V (2008) Energy performances and life cycle assessment of an Italian wind farm. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 12:200–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arvesen A, Hertwich E (2012) Assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of wind power: a review of present knowledge and research needs. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 16(8):5994–6006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berndt ML (2015) Influence of concrete mix design on CO2 emissions for large wind turbine foundations. Renew Energy 83:608–614

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chataignere A, Boulch D (2003) Wind turbine (WT) systems, ECLIPSE—environmental and ecological life cycle inventories for present and future power systems in Europe. Final Report. https://www.dlr.de/tt/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2885/4422_read-6558/

  • Chen GQ, Yang Q, Zhao YH (2011) Renewability of wind power in China: a case study of nonrenewable energy cost and greenhouse gas emission by a plant in Guangxi. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15:2322–2329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherubini F, Bargigli S, Ulgiati S (2009) Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: landfilling, sorting plant and incineration. Energy 34:2116–2123

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford RH. Life-cycle energy analysis of wind turbines—an assessment of the effect of size on energy yield. WIT transactions on ecology and the environment, vol 105, © 2007. WIT Press. www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) pp 155–164

  • D’Souza N, Gbegbaje-Das E, Shonfield P (2011) Life cycle assessment of electricity production from a Vestas V112 turbine wind plant. Denmark, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson S, Höök M, Wall G (2012) A review of life cycle assessments on wind energy systems. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17:729–742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0397-8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DieselNET (2018) Emission standards: summary of worldwide engine and vehicle emission standards. https://www.dieselnet.com/standards/. Accessed 20 Dec 2018

  • Elsan Engineering A/S (2004) Life cycle assessment of offshore and onshore sited wind farms. Doc. no. 200128

  • European Environment Agency (1998) Life cycle assessment: a guide to approaches and information sources (environmental issues). European Communities, ISBN: 9789291670796

  • Gagnon L, Belanger C, Uchiyama Y (2002) Life-cycle assessment of electricity generation options: the status of research in year 2001. Energy Policy 30(14):1267–1278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamesa Corp (2013) The wind turbine manufacturer in Spain. http://www.gamesacorp.com/en/cargarAplicacionPresenciaGlobal.do?tipo=P. Accessed 17 Sept 2016

  • Garrett P, Rønde K (2013) Life cycle assessment of wind power: comprehensive results from a state-of-the-art approach. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:37–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0445-4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Golbabaei F, Khadem M (2015) Air pollution in welding processes—assessment and control methods. Curr Air Qual Issues 1:1. https://doi.org/10.5772/59793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guezuraga B, Zauner R, Pölz W (2012) Life cycle assessment of two different 2 MW class wind turbines. Renew Energy 37:37–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Standards Organization, ISO 14040, 14044 (2006) Environmental management-life cycle assessment: principles and framework, requirements and guidelines, ICS 13.020.10; 13.020.60

  • Ji S, Chen B (2016) LCA-based carbon footprint of a typical wind farm in China. Energy Procedia 88:250–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jungbluth N, Bauer C, Dones R, Frischknecht R (2005) Life cycle assessment for emerging technologies: case studies for photovoltaic and wind power. Int J Life Cycle Assess 10(1):24–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar I, Tyner WE, Sinha KC (2016) Input–output life cycle environmental assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from utility scale wind energy in the United States. Energy Policy 89:294–301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lenzen M, Dey C (2000) Truncation error in embodied energy analysis of basic iron and steel products. Energy 25:577–585

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leung DYC, Yang Y (2012) Wind energy development and its environmental impact: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 16:1031–1039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locogen. Locogen wind turbine construction timelapse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBbBh5xZ1gQ. Accessed Dec 2018

  • Martínez E, Sanz F, Pellegrini S, Jiménez E, Blanco J (2009) Life cycle assessment of a multi-megawatt wind turbine. Renew Energy 34:667–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez E, Blanco J, Jimenez E, Saenz-Díez JC, Sanz Martinez F (2015) Comparative evaluation of life cycle impact assessment software tools through a wind turbine case study. Renew Energy 74:237–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oebels KB, Pacca S (2013) Life cycle assessment of a non-shore wind farm located at the north eastern coast of Brazil. Renew Energy 53:60–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozoemena M, Cheung WM, Hasan R (2018) Comparative LCA of technology improvement opportunities for a 1.5-MW wind turbine in the context of an onshore wind farm. Clean Technol Environ Policy 20:173–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PRé Sustainability (2015) SimaPro database manual: methods library. https://www.pre-sustainability.com/download/DatabaseManualMethods.pdf. Accessed 21 July 2016

  • PRé Sustainability (2016) SimaPro. www.pre-sustainability.com/simapro. Accessed 26 July 2016

  • Proops JLR, Gay PW, Speck S, Schroder T (1996) The lifetime pollution implications of various types of electricity generation. Energy Policy 24(3):229–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raadal HL, Gagnonb L, Modahla IS, Hanssenaet OJ (2011) Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the generation of wind and hydro power. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15:3417–3422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajaei M, Tinjum JM (2013) Life cycle assessment of energy balance and emissions of a wind energy plant. Geotech Geol Eng 31:1663–1670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-013-9637-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Royal Academy of Engineering, UK. http://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/other/23-wind-turbine. Accessed 2 Sept 2016

  • Rule B, Worth ZJ, Boyle CA (2009) Comparison of life cycle carbon dioxide emissions and embodied energy in four renewable electricity generation technologies in New Zealand. Environ Sci Technol 43:6406–6413

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schleisner L (2000) Life cycle assessment of a wind farm and related externalities. Renew Energy 20:279–288

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simons PJ, Cheung WM (2016) Development of a quantitative analysis system for greener and economically sustainable wind farms. J Clean Prod 133:886–898. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.0300959-6526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanek W, Mendecka B, Lombardi L, Simla T (2018) Environmental assessment of wind turbine systems based on thermo-ecological cost. Energy 160:341–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tremeac B, Meunier F (2009) Life cycle analysis of 4.5 MW and 250 W wind turbines. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 13:2104–2110

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turconi R, O’Dwyer C, Flynn D, Astrup T (2014) Emissions from cycling of thermal power plants in electricity systems with high penetration of wind power: life cycle assessment for Ireland. Appl Energy 131:1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner HJ, Pick E (2004) Energy yield ratio and cumulative energy demand for wind energy converters. Energy 29:2289–2295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Sh, Si Wang (2015) Impacts of wind energy on environment: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 49:437–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White S (2006) Net energy payback and CO2 emissions from three midwestern wind farms: an update. Nat Resour Res 15(4):271–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-007-9024-y

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Widder S, Butner R, Elliott M, Freeman C (2011) Sustainability assessment of coal-fired power plants with carbon capture and storage. US Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL)-20933

  • Worrell WA, Vesilind PA, Ludwig C (2016) Solid waste engineering: a global perspective, 3rd edn. Cengage Learning, Stamford

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang TW (2011) Producer-focused life cycle assessment of thin-film silicon photovoltaic systems. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19308, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    Ali Alsaleh & Melanie Sattler

Authors
  1. Ali Alsaleh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Melanie Sattler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melanie Sattler.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alsaleh, A., Sattler, M. Comprehensive life cycle assessment of large wind turbines in the US. Clean Techn Environ Policy 21, 887–903 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-019-01678-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-019-01678-0

Keywords

  • SimaPro
  • TRACI
  • Renewable energy
  • Wind energy
  • Onshore