Life Cycle Assessment of Absolicon solar thermal collector field for district heating in Härnösand

Abstract: Global energy consumption has been increasing continuously every year. Many energy sources are utilized. Conventional fossil fuels are not sustainable, and their environmental impacts are more apparent than ever before. For heating purposes, most of the heat still comes from combustion of both non-renewable and renewable energy sources. According to IEA (2019), only 10% of heat supply in industrial sectors and buildings comes from renewable sources. Hence, 40% of the carbon emission in the energy sector comes from heat. Therefore, shifting from non-renewable to renewable energy sources is essential in reducing the environmental impact from heat production. Sweden has a long tradition of solar thermal in district heating for cities. Therefore, this study tried to look at the application of solar thermal energy for heat production to supply the District Heating (DH) system and compare its environmental performance to other types of energy sources. The system that was examined in this study is the solar thermal collector field from Absolicon in Härnösand. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted to evaluate the life cycle environmental impacts of this solar collector field. The assessment was done by collecting primary data provided by Absolicon and its suppliers and secondary data from the literatures. The results showed that Absolicon solar thermal collector field generated less overall environmental impacts than conventional energy sources in heat production. Moreover, the result for carbon footprint of the solar collector is 4.4 kg CO2/MWh, which is at least 3-4 times less lifetime emissions when compared to other solar energy technologies.