Towards greener horizontal-axis wind turbines: Analysis of carbon emissions, energy and costs at the early design stage

Raymond Aso, Wai Ming Cheung

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)
29 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a quantitative analysis system as a platform for rapidly estimate energy, costs and carbon emission to facilitate the comparison of different wind turbine concept designs. This system aimed specifically at wind turbine manufacturing processes due to the fact that a large proportion of the environmental, costs and energy impacts would occur at this stage. The proposed method supports an initial assessment of multiple design concepts which allows the selection and development of a “greener” wind turbine. The developed system enables concept design of commercial wind turbine towers of hub heights between 44 and 135 m. The method supports an accurate estimation in regards to the dimension, energy consumed, maximum power output, costs and carbon emission in the early design phases of a wind turbine. As a result of the development, the proposed approach could potentially be used to minimise the carbon footprints of major engineering projects such as wind farms.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)263-274
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Cleaner Production
Volume87
Early online date17 Oct 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • carbon emission
  • carbon footprint
  • energy
  • cost
  • manufacturing
  • wind turbine design concept

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