ABSTRACT

Energy production without destroying the environment is faced as one of the most popular issues of the world. Hence, the notion that the shift from traditional energy systems to renewable energy systems have become popular recently. One of the most important methods to be able to decide which renewable energy systems are sustainable for a specific region is life cycle analysis. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widespread method to evaluate environmental impacts of energy generation processes. LCA of energy production have four phases- namely, production, construction, operation- maintenance and decommissioning and recycling or disposal. In this study, all phases are considered for each configuration. Throughout the study, two different renewable energy systems are assessed. The first configuration is selected as onshore wind farm and the second one is offshore wind farm. For this purpose, Bozcaada Island is selected as a pilot area for the study. A possible offshore wind farm (to yield more wind energy) and onshore wind farm which has been operated since 2000 are compared by means of life cycle assessment and life cycle cost (LCC). Cradle-to-grave approach is applied for both configurations by utilizing GaBi. In order to create awareness that LCA and LCC are a practical tool to determine the environmental and economic impacts of energy generation systems in a long-term for a specific region, each configuration is assessed and then compared. Findings indicate that offshore wind farm is more environmental-friendly than onshore wind farm apart from acidification potential although offshore wind farm is more expensive technology than onshore counterpart.