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The Fuel Cycles of Electricity Generation: A Comparison of Land Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Hyung Chul Kim  and
Vasilis Fthenakis
Hyung Chul Kim
Affiliation:
hckim@bnl.gov, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Photovoltaic EH&S Research Cener, Bldg 475B, Upton, NY, 11973, United States, 631-344-2723
Vasilis Fthenakis
Affiliation:
vmf5@columbia.edu, Columbia University, Center for Life Cycle Analysis, New York, NY, 10027, United States
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Abstract

We investigate the area of land used and/or transformed during conventional (i.e., coal, natural gas and nuclear), and renewable fuel cycles (i.e., photovoltaics, wind, biomass, and geothermal). Both direct and indirect land use/transformation are examined in a life cycle framework. For average US insolation, the photovoltaic fuel cycle disturbs the least amount of land per GWh among renewable options, requiring less area than the coal fuel cycle. Renewable technologies could harvest infinite amount of energy per unit area and eliminates the need for restoring disturbed mine lands. Further investigations would be necessary for secondary and accidental land disturbance by conventional fuel cycles through transport of effluents and emissions to adjacent land.

Keywords

environmentally benignphotovoltaicwaste management
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1041: Symposium R – Life-Cycle Analysis for New Energy Conversion and Storage Systems , 2007 , 1041-R05-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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