Cumulative energy demand for selected renewable energy technologies

Abstract

Calculation of Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) of various energy systems and the computation of their Energy Yield Ratio (EYR) suggests that one single renewable energy technology cannot be said to be the best. Due to the difference in availability of renewable energy sources, their suitability varies from place to place. Wind energy converters, solar water heating systems and photovoltaic systems have been analysed for different types of locations. Comparing the general bandwidth of performance of these technologies, however, the wind energy converters tend to be better, followed by solar water heating systems and photovoltaic systems.

Since a major part of the methodology of findingCED is very close to that of life cycle assessment and also because of the dominance of environmental impacts caused by the energy demand in the entire life cycle of any product or system, it is suggested that theCED can be used as an indicator of environmental impacts, especially in the case of power producing systems. Keywords: Cumulative energy demand; life cycle assessment; energy yield ratio; photovoltaics; solar water heating; wind energy Abbreviations: CED — Cumulative Energy Demand; EYR — Energy Yield Ratio; LCA — Life Cycle Assessment; Photovoltaics — PV; WEC — Wind Energy Converters