Material consumption and environmental impact of wind turbines in the USA and globally
Material consumption and environmental impact of wind turbines in the USA and globally
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DOI：
10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105938
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发表时间：
2022-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
A. Farina;A. Anctil
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Farina;A. Anctil
风力发电是世界上发展最快的能源之一。到2050年，它对全球发电量的贡献将从5%增加到30%。随着风电场数量的增加，我们需要确保有足够的材料来满足预期的全球产能增长，而不会产生新的环境问题。在这项工作中，我们估计了美国和世界其他地区风力涡轮机的材料需求，并将这些值与2050年之前的预期产量进行了比较。根据每年的装机容量，我们量化了与材料生产相关的碳足迹和累计能源需求。2032-2036年的水泥需求可能是美国目前用于风力涡轮机和管道建设的两倍。与2018年相比，2033年美国钢铁需求将增长511%（从853到5215 kt）。与2018年相比，2033年美国的稀土元素需求将增长254%-815%（从0.33增加到1.16-3 kt）。在世界其他地区，到2050年，稀土需求将占中国产量的38%。到2050年，全球风力涡轮机所需材料的碳足迹将比目前美国燃煤电厂排放的二氧化碳低9.3倍。重要的是要评估大规模部署风能的潜在影响，以尽可能避免产生与材料稀缺有关的新问题，这可能会增加未来电力生产的碳足迹。
Wind power is one of the fastest-growing energy in the world. Its contribution to global electricity generation should increase from 5 to 30% in 2050. With the increasing number of wind farms, we need to ensure that we will have enough material to meet the expected global capacity growth without creating new environmental issues. In this work, we estimated the material demand for wind turbines in the USA and the rest of the world and compared those values with the expected production until 2050. Based on the annual capacity installation, we quantified the carbon footprint and cumulative energy demand associated with the material production. Cement demand in 2032-2036 could be twice as much as the current amount used for wind turbines and pipeline construction in the USA. Compared to 2018, the USA steel demand in 2033 will increase by 511% (from 853 to 5215 kt). Rare earth elements (REEs) demand in the USA will increase by 254%-815% in 2033 (from 0.33 to 1.16-3 kt) compared to 2018. In the rest of the world, REEs demand will be 38% of the Chinese production in 2050. In 2050, the carbon footprint for materials required for wind turbines globally will be 9.3 times lower than the CO2emitted currently from coal power plants in the USA. It is important to evaluate the potential impact of large-scale deployment of wind energy to avoid as much as possible creating new issues related to material scarcity, which could increase the carbon footprint of future electricity production.