Life Cycle Analysis of Renewable Energy

Renewable energy has emerged as an economically realistic alternative for supplying global energy needs to drive human production activities and modern comfort. It is also a viable strategy to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize other supply chains, while addressing some of the UN׳s sustainable development goals. However, this does not come without the compromises in other environmental issues as revealed by the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). This article provides an overview of renewable energy sources, its history and technologies. Then, it provides a brief introduction to the LCA methodology showing examples, and reviews existing results of LCA of renewable energy for solar energy, wind energy and bioenergy. Finally, the article summarizes the challenges in conducting LCA studies for renewable energy, and a brief perspective on strategies to make renewable energy more sustainable.