Life cycle assessment of the prototype of a novel energy generation and heat storage system

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful method to quantify the environmental impacts of a product or system for different life cycle stages. In the design stage, it can help decision makers to utilize most sustainable material choices. A novel energy generation and heat storage system is under development at Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU). A prototype of this system has been developed and installed at RPTU for testing and validation purposes. This paper depicts the significance of the LCA application for the design stage of the prototype. By use of LCA, hotspots have been identified and it could be shown that potential replacement with better material choices result in a reduction of around 32% of Global warming potential and 29% of non-renewable energy consumption in the design stage.