Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for the selection of solar hot water system

摘要

During the past decades, solar hot water systems became a popular solution, enabling utilisation of renewable energy by both, single users and enterprises. Maximisation of the energy gains is one of the factors influencing the environmental burdens connected with solar systems. The second important issue is a kind of elements of system, their production, transportation, usage and disposal. Therefore, as the method for estimation of the scale of environmental indicators Life Cycle Assessment should be used. In this study, LCA was applied for the selection of the individual design on the basis of two criteria (water tank capacity and hot water demand) considered in three system scenarios. The calculated indicators included greenhouse gas emission (Global Warming Potential) and IMPACT2002+ method. The results show the importance of proper designing in the case of environmental impact reduction.