Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Wind Turbines: A Path to Sustainability with Challenges

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate in detail the environmental impacts of the turbines used for electricity generation by wind energy, from a life cycle perspective. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review is conducted and the life cycle environmental impacts of two sizes of wind turbines, namely 3.6 and 4.8 MW, in Turkey are analyzed. Sustainability studies, especially life cycle assessment (LCA) findings, yield healthy results only if the data used are site-specific. The system has been modeled using GaBi software and the Ecoinvent database. The functional unit is defined as 1 kWh of generated electricity. The impacts have been estimated using the CML 2 Baseline 2001 method. The 4.8 MW turbine has lower environmental impacts than the other turbine. The construction of wind turbines has the greatest share of the environmental impacts of all the options considered. Recycling materials at the end of plant life can reduce unwanted environmental impacts by up to 49%. Similar studies based on site-specific data will help to inform electricity producers and policymakers about wind energy’s current impacts and environmental hotspots. Conducting analogous studies is critical to reducing the environmental impacts of wind energy, which will play an important part in the future of the energy sector.