Energy, exergy, environmental and economic analysis of the parabolic solar collector with life cycle assessment for different climate conditions

The ever-increasing consumption of non-renewable energies, including petroleum and gas, besides a decrease in the fossil fuel reserves, necessitates more attention to clean and renewable energy resources more than ever. In these conditions, solar energy is recognized as one of the most reliable options for producing thermal and electric energy. The development of a numerical model for a parabolic solar collector in MATLAB software was carried out in this research. The effect of climate changes on the energy, exergy, and environmental aspects of these systems was investigated by considering an economic approach. The performance of the parabolic solar collector in terms of the Energy-ExergyEconomic-Environmental (4E) was carried out in 5 cities (Rasht, Shiraz, Tehran, Abadan, and Sanandaj) of Iran as a representative of diverse climate. The results of this investigation indicate that the parabolic solar collectors in Shiraz, which has Mediterranean Climate (Csc), has the highest thermal energy efficiency up to 71.97% among these cities. On the other hand, Sanandaj, with Humid Continental Climate (Dsa), enjoys maximum exergy efficiency (22.01%). From an environmental perspective with respect to the cost of CO2 production, Rasht with a Humid Subtropical Climate (Cfa) has an annual cost of $0.75 based on energy and $0.16 based on exergy. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study focused on the impact of climate change on solar energy systems, investigating the performance of a parabolic solar collector under different climatic conditions through a numerical model. The results showed that Shiraz had the highest thermal energy efficiency, Sanandaj had the highest exergy efficiency, and Rasht had the lowest environmental cost in terms of CO2 production.