ecoinvent: Energy Supply Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies: Case Studies for Photovoltaic and Wind Power

scenario for a future technology helps to assess the relative in-fluence of technology improvements for some processes in the near future (2005–2010). The differences for environmental bur-dens of wind power basically depend upon the capacity factor of the plants, the lifetime of the infrastructure, and the rated power. The higher these factors, the more reduced the environmental burdens are. Thus, both systems are quite dependent on meteoro-logical conditions and the materials used for the infrastructure. Recommendation and Perspective. Many production processes for photovoltaic power are still under development. Future up-dates of the LCI should verify the energy uses and emissions with available data from industrial processes in operation. For the modelling of a specific power plant or power plant mixes outside of Switzerland, one has to consider the annual yield (kWh/ kWp) and if possible also the size of the plant. Considering the steady growth of the size of wind turbines in Europe, the devel-opment of new designs, and the exploitation of offshore location with deeper waters than analysed in this study, the inventory for wind power plants may need to be updated in the future