Life cycle assessment of Italian electricity production and comparison with the European context

Abstract

This work aims to evaluate the Life Cycle of the current electricity mix (2018, considering Eurostat data) and future (2030, considering European reference scenario) of some European Union member states (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain), to be compared with the results obtained for the Italian case.The major efforts by the European Commission have been in containing climate-altering emissions: this has been seen in the policies that the different countries considered have adopted. According to the 2030 scenarios, there is an average reduction of 42% in the impacts on Climate change, the best result after acidification (impact category closely linked to the first). Only one country does not show a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions: Belgium. In this country, the end of nuclear power and the increase of imports and gas causes an increase in emissions by 2030.The reduction of Climate change emissions has gone to the detriment of another impact category, the consumption of resources (mineral, fossil and renewable), which has seen an increase in precisely those countries that have reduced CO2 emissions the most: Spain, France and Portugal.

Keywords

• Electricity mix
• Electricity production
• Energy scenario
• European energy production
• Life Cycle Assessment