{"id":8400,"date":"2022-01-30T06:03:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T06:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/?page_id=8400"},"modified":"2022-02-16T10:39:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T10:39:54","slug":"5-lice-cycle-analysis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/?page_id=8400","title":{"rendered":"4. Life Cycle Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life Cycle Analysis gives an overview of the design, decisions and its overall impact. The decisions made by engineers at some point of the system\u2019s life cycle affect the cost and its environment.\u00a0As a civil engineer it helped in the understanding of the processes and analyses involved in life cycle analysis of a system. The integrated system which is being considered and reviewed here is basically based on the four subsystems which is the transmission tower, the mooring lines, the offshore piles and the offshore wind turbines. All these four subsystems interact with each other in one way or the other.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Scope and boundaries of LCA<\/p>\n

The main goal is to reduce the maintenance time, to find the carbon footprint and also to increase the time between interventions\u00a0of the integrated system. During the construction process and its lifetime these systems emit so many harmful gases that cause air pollution like CO2, NOx and SO2 and also a lot of energy is being consumed or overused during its life cyle. All these factors are taken into consideration and is being studied. These gases affect the tropospheric ozone and also affect the flora and fauna. They also contribute to the formation of acid rain and smog which affects the natural system and causes an imbalance in nature. The overuse of energy also leads to some major concerns like the increase in carbon footprint, increased risk of climate change and also higher energy costs. The complete stoppage of the same is impossible but if we really care and pay attention we could decrease the amount up to a certain extent.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2: Average lifespan of the systems.<\/p>\n

The figure depicted above shows the average lifespan of the chosen systems. It is clear from the picture that the transmission tower has a designed life span of 70 years and the mooring lines have a designed lifespan of 100 years which is the highest amoung the all. In this span , a lot of inspections and maintenances are being done on both the systems\u00a0at regular intervals. Considering the offshore piles and wind turbines, they have an average lifespan of about 20-25 years. If they are well maintained with regular inspections and maintenances, the lifespan could be increased for a period of 30 years.<\/p>\n

Given below are the summarized required materials of each subsystem for the LCA :<\/p>\n

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Transmission tower<\/h4>\n
Main System: Transmission tower<\/div>\n
Sub System: Transmission tower(Superstructure)<\/div>\n
Best Design Option: Steel lattice tower<\/div>\n
Materials Required: Steel, Aluminium and Copper<\/div>\n

Mooring line<\/h4>\n
Main System: Floating Solar Photovoltaic Parks<\/div>\n
Sub System: Mooring line<\/div>\n
Best Design Option: Open Frame w\/ Weighted Corners w\/ Steel Rope Mooring Line<\/div>\n
Materials Required: Cement, Reinforcement and Steel<\/div>\n

Offshore wind turbines foundation<\/h4>\n
Main System: Offshore wind turbines<\/div>\n
Sub System: Offshore wind turbines foundation<\/div>\n
Best Design Option: \u00a0Monopile concrete foundation<\/div>\n
Materials Required: Cement and Reinforcement<\/div>\n

Offshore Piles<\/h4>\n
Main System: Offshore Structures<\/div>\n
Sub System: Offshore Piles<\/div>\n
Best Design Treated wood piles<\/div>\n
Materials Required: Treated wood<\/div>\n
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An inventory is formed that contains the materials used for the construction, emissions and energy consumption can be seen from the below graph.<\/p>\n

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Figure 3: Inventory of materials, emissions and energy consumptions.<\/div>\n
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The following table depicts the total energy consumption, the emissions and the costs for the integrated system. In order to calculate the total\u00a0energy consumption, the emissions and the costs, each subsystem’s GHG emissions, energy consumptions and costs were taken into considerations and were combined. Also the materials used for the construction and throughout the process were taken into study and the analysis is being done.<\/div>\n
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Figure 4: Result of LCA – Energy consumption, GHG emissions and the Costs for the integrated system.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0integrated system’s emissions and energy consumption analysis figure is depicted in Fig.5. It can be clearly stated that the main environmental discharge of the system is its energy consumption of 31,9% and CO2<\/sub>\u00a0emissions of 66,6%, which is the highest amoung all the emissions and energy. NOx and SO2 is also emitted but in a very small proportion. The SO2 emission is around 1,3% of the combined system and NOx emission 0,2%.\u00a0 the overusage of the energy and the emissions are a major concern for the environmental safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Figure 5: Energy consumption and emissions of the integrated system.<\/div>\n
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Integration Context of the civil systems<\/a><\/p>\n