Life Cycle Assessment of Wind Energy Systems
Summary
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a cradle-to-grave appraisal of wind energy systems, encompassing raw material extraction, component manufacture, transportation, installation, operation, maintenance, decommissioning and end-of-life treatment. By quantifying energy and mass flows across these stages, LCA identifies environmental hotspots such as greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, eutrophication and toxicity burdens. Conventional onshore and offshore wind farms typically exhibit life cycle carbon intensities below 20–30 g CO₂ eq/kWh when normalised to functional units of 1 kWh or 1 GWh delivered. Major contributors to impacts include steel for towers and nacelles, composite materials in blades and the energy embedded in supply-chain processes. Advances in turbine design, larger rotor diameters, enhanced service lives and improved recyclability have steadily reduced impacts per unit of electricity. Floating offshore systems introduce novel infrastructure demands—shifting burdens towards platform materials and marine installation—while end-of-life recycling strategies for blades and steel components are emerging as crucial to close material loops. LCA thus underpins technology innovation, circular-economy strategies and policy frameworks that guide sustainable deployment of wind energy to support global decarbonisation and resource-efficiency objectives.
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Life Cycle Assessment of Wind Energy Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in life cycle assessment of wind energy systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A systematic framework for quantifying environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product or system’s life cycle, from cradle to grave.
Functional unit: The quantified reference providing a basis for comparing life cycle inventories and impacts (e.g., 1 kWh or 1 GWh of electricity generated).
Global warming potential (GWP): A metric expressing the cumulative climate-forcing effect of greenhouse gases relative to CO₂ over a specified time horizon.
Energy payback time: The duration required for a system to generate the amount of energy that was consumed throughout its entire life cycle.
Carbon payback time: The period needed for a renewable energy system to offset the greenhouse gas emissions incurred during manufacture, installation and decommissioning.
References
- Life cycle assessment of a floating offshore wind farm in Italy. Sustainable Production and Consumption (2023).
- Comparative LCA of technology improvement opportunities for a 1.5-MW wind turbine in the context of an onshore wind farm. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (2017).
- Characterization of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from wind electricity generation systems. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering (2016).
- Life Cycle Analysis of Ecological Impacts of an Offshore and a Land-Based Wind Power Plant. Applied Sciences (2019).
- Environmental Impacts of Global Offshore Wind Energy Development until 2040. Environmental Science and Technology (2022).
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