Authors
Göllner-Völker, Laura; Schebek, Liselotte
Abstract
In view of the global transformation of the energy supply to renewable primary energy, energy storage is a major issue of future energy systems worldwide. For storage technologies as well as for energy technologies in general, beyond technological and economic issues the environmental perspective is a crucial issue. Consequently, many studies have been performed on ESS based on the method of Life Cycle Assessment. However, these address different technologies and application fields, show a big variation of results and do often not comply with a systems perspective. Above this, the majority of literature does not address the highly dynamic research on energy storage. Therefore, two major problems occur: the results cannot easily be compared, without harmonization and the impact in a system perspective is rarely discussed. The question arises, how these broad range of possible storage technologies can be addressed in LCA in order to provide meaningful answers for the shaping of the energy system beyond the assessment of single aspects. In a first attempt to answer this question, we have developed a framework for LCA of storage technologies. The framework is based on a comprehensive evaluation of LCA literature on storage technologies in general, which is analyzed and structures along a set of criteria regarding application field and decision support. The framework outlines a generic evaluation of the environmental impacts of energy storage application for each life cycle stage and gives recommendations on how to identify suitable system models and boundaries. On the example of battery technologies for grid application a summarized overview of production phase results is outlined in the presentation and recommendation on how to use them in a stationary context are given. Furthermore, the influence of different assumption for the use phase and their effects is shown on the example of home storage systems.