Life cycle assessment of hydrogen-based electricity generation in place of conventional fuels for residential buildings

Abstract

In the current study, environmental impact evaluation of electricity generation from hydrogen instead of conventional fuels is investigated with a life cycle impact assessment for residential usage. For this purpose, lignite, natural gas, and hydrogen are utilized to a power plant to generate electricity in Istanbul, Turkey throughout the year. The utilized method for life cycle analysis is the CML 2001 which considers the impacts of global warming, acidification, abiotic fossil depletion, photochemical ozone creation, ionising radiation, human toxicity potential, land use, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, ecotoxicity of marine aquatic, ecotoxicity of marine sediment, and terrestrial ecotoxicity. The results of the present study illustrate that the generation with hydrogen is the best option for the environment in terms of all impact category. The global warming potentials with the 500 years time horizon for each option of electricity generation are found as 1.4 x 10(6) ton CO2 eq, 6 x 10(5) ton CO2 eq and 4.6 x 10(4) ton CO2 eq, respectively in the month of January. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.