A simplified model for the estimation of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of enhanced geothermal systems

Martino Lacirignola (1) , Bechara Hage Meany (2) , Pierryves Padey (3) , Isabelle Blanc (2)

1 Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maítrise de l'Energie
2 O.I.E. - Centre Observation, Impacts, Énergie
3 Institute for Environmental Sciences and Forel Institute

Background: The development of 'enhanced geothermal systems' (EGS), designed to extract energy from deep low-enthalpy reservoirs, is opening new scenarios of growth for the whole geothermal sector. A relevant tool to estimate the environmental performances of such emerging renewable energy (RE) technology is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, the application of this cradle-to-grave approach is complex and time-consuming. Moreover, LCA results available for EGS case studies cover a fairly high variability range. Methods: A new type of LCA-based approach, called simplified model, is developed based on the analysis of environmental performance variability of energy pathways. Such methodology has been applied to produce a reduced parameterized model, designed to estimate life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of EGS power plants applicable to a large sample of configurations.

Domaines: Energétique

Martino Lacirignola, Bechara Hage Meany, Pierryves Padey, Isabelle Blanc. A simplified model for the estimation of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of enhanced geothermal systems. Geothermal Energy, 2014, 2, pp.8. ⟨10.1186/s40517-014-0008-y⟩. ⟨hal-01074839⟩