Carbon Footprint Estimation of an Indian Thermal Power Plant …
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Mid point interventions include impact categories relating to climate change, land
use, water use, resource depletion, biodiversity, toxic effects on human life etc.
End points interventions include damage categories relating to casing negative
effect on human health, resource depletion and quality of ecosystem.
4. Interpretation—This is the last phase of LCA study and interpretation at this
stage is to be to detect the new stretches and collect related new data that have
prospects for improvement. Based on these interpretations, commendations are
made at this phase.
In this connection choosing boundaries is precisely significant for LCA activities. This is true for any process or product. The different boundaries can be of the
following four categories [23]:
• Starting from supply items at mining site (cradle) to recycling of products after
being sold off to end consumers, 100% consumption of wastes (cradle).
• Commencing from extraction of resource (cradle) to final discarding of generated
wastes (grave).
• From raw materials abstraction (cradle) to transportation of final products to
factory gate (gate) before sending final products to the customers. This process
excludes the use and discarding of wastes by the unit.
• The pathways relating to processing within the whole production chain (gate)
inside the factory premises (gate).
LCA assessment method has being adopted as this method can help to move
towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This has gained prominence all
more since the United Nations Environment Progrmme (UNEP) pioneered a Life
Cycle Initiative project establishing a link between the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and life cycle assessment (LCA) in 2018. This is because since
the inception of SDGs in 2015, companies initiated processes showing their willingness to achieve these goals. However, the aims and indicators of SDG relevant for
businesses are still at a very nascent stage, so it is a challenging task to quantify and
supervise the results effectively on the part of the companies. However, an effort has
been made to identify the SDGs impacted and achieved by the thermal power plant
based on LCA results and adoption of green options.
Functional Unit
The functional unit is a coal- and oil-based Indian thermal power generating unit.
Considered as one of the most renowned coal-based power plants in India, the total
generation capacity of the plant is 1050 Megawatt (MW) whereas the total generating
capacity of the unit is 7300 Million Unit (MU) of electricity. During the year under
consideration, i.e., 2016–17, the total electricity generated from the power plant was
measured to be 7050 Million Unit (MU) (1 MU = 10,00,000 kWh of generated
electricity).
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Mid point interventions include impact categories relating to climate change, land
use, water use, resource depletion, biodiversity, toxic effects on human life etc.
End points interventions include damage categories relating to casing negative
effect on human health, resource depletion and quality of ecosystem.
4. Interpretation—This is the last phase of LCA study and interpretation at this
stage is to be to detect the new stretches and collect related new data that have
prospects for improvement. Based on these interpretations, commendations are
made at this phase.
In this connection choosing boundaries is precisely significant for LCA activities. This is true for any process or product. The different boundaries can be of the
following four categories [23]:
• Starting from supply items at mining site (cradle) to recycling of products after
being sold off to end consumers, 100% consumption of wastes (cradle).
• Commencing from extraction of resource (cradle) to final discarding of generated
wastes (grave).
• From raw materials abstraction (cradle) to transportation of final products to
factory gate (gate) before sending final products to the customers. This process
excludes the use and discarding of wastes by the unit.
• The pathways relating to processing within the whole production chain (gate)
inside the factory premises (gate).
LCA assessment method has being adopted as this method can help to move
towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This has gained prominence all
more since the United Nations Environment Progrmme (UNEP) pioneered a Life
Cycle Initiative project establishing a link between the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and life cycle assessment (LCA) in 2018. This is because since
the inception of SDGs in 2015, companies initiated processes showing their willingness to achieve these goals. However, the aims and indicators of SDG relevant for
businesses are still at a very nascent stage, so it is a challenging task to quantify and
supervise the results effectively on the part of the companies. However, an effort has
been made to identify the SDGs impacted and achieved by the thermal power plant
based on LCA results and adoption of green options.
Functional Unit
The functional unit is a coal- and oil-based Indian thermal power generating unit.
Considered as one of the most renowned coal-based power plants in India, the total
generation capacity of the plant is 1050 Megawatt (MW) whereas the total generating
capacity of the unit is 7300 Million Unit (MU) of electricity. During the year under
consideration, i.e., 2016–17, the total electricity generated from the power plant was
measured to be 7050 Million Unit (MU) (1 MU = 10,00,000 kWh of generated
electricity).