TY  - JOUR
A1  - Goray, Lars
T1  - Life cycle energy analysis and ecological impact of wind turbines - a comparison of life cycle assessments
JF  - Educational Journal of Renewable Energy Short Reviews
N2  - The use of wind power is rapidly expanding worldwide. It is important to examine the impact of wind turbines on the environment to see if they provide a net benefit and to identify potential for improving. Therefore life cycle assessments (LCA) of different wind turbine types are compared in this short review. The results are then shown side by side in tables for comparison. Overall the LCAs show that wind turbines compensate the required energy and emitted pollutants after approx. 6-16 months. The energy payback period (EPP) for 2 MW onshore wind turbines remained roughly the same since 2009 with approximately 7 months. Onshore wind turbines have a higher impact due to emissions but a shorter EPP than offshore wind turbines. The estimated service life of 20 years should be maximized to ensure a high energy yield ratio. The biggest impact on the environment results from the processes to provide the building material e.g. steel and cement. That impact could be reduced by 20 % if recycled steel would be used. It is shown that wind power is one of the cleanest energy sources. But further investigations in material processing and recycling are important to improve the eco-balance of wind turbines.
T3  - EGU Master Journal of Renewable Energy Short Reviews - 2023_02 
KW  - wind turbine
KW  - wind power
KW  - regenerative energy
KW  - life cycle assessment
KW  - energy analysis
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:836-opus-172613
SP  - 8
EP  - 15
ER  -