Spatially explicit life cycle assessments reveal hotspots of environmental impacts from renewable electricity generation

Renewable energy generation has great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, however, it may exacerbate other environmental impacts, such as water scarcity, elsewhere in the supply chain. Here, we reveal a wide range of global environmental impacts of concentrated solar power, run-of-river hydropower, and biomass burning compared to classical coal-fired power: Spatially explicit life cycle impact assessment is used to evaluate their supply chains with respect to demand for energy, land, material, and water, greenhouse gas emissions, and impacts on human health and ecosystem quality with a focus on mining. Hotspot analyses in terms of location and type of impact show that there is no clear preference for any of the technologies, mainly because water consumption is often critical on-site. The examined concentrated solar power plant is the least suitable for a sustainable energy transition: Its spatial hotspots are spreading the furthest globally and may exceed those of coal combustion in number and severity. The presented methodology is the basis to mitigate such environmental hotspots. A global analysis and comparison of environmental impacts of supply chains for coal-powered and renewable electricity production shows that, while cumulative impacts of renewable electricity are lower, single impacts of renewable electricity production can be higher, especially associated with mining.

Automated summary

Renewable energy generation has potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but may have negative impacts on other environmental factors such as water scarcity. A comparison of concentrated solar power, run-of-river hydropower, biomass burning, and coal-fired power shows that different technologies have various environmental impacts, with water consumption being a critical factor. The examined concentrated solar power plant is found to have the least sustainable energy transition due to its spreading global hotspots which may even exceed those of coal combustion.