Document of bibliographic reference 368232

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Monetized (socio-)environmental handprint and footprint of an offshore windfarm in the Belgian Continental Shelf: An assessment of local, regional and global impacts

Abstract

Renewable offshore wind electricity is as one of the major renewable energy sources on our path towards carbon neutrality. As for all energy technologies, offshore wind farms (OWFs) will have both local and global negative and positive impacts. Understanding and quantifying these burdens and benefits requires a holistic sustainability assessment. This study tests and applies a novel (socio-) environmental impact assessment framework to quantify the monetized (socio-) environmental footprint and handprint of an offshore wind farm located in the Belgian Continental Shelf. This framework consists of a combination of two ways of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Ecosystem Services Assessment (ESA) to quantify both the site-specific and site-generic impacts on ecosystem services (ESs) over the lifetime of a human intervention. For the operation and maintenance stage of the OWF, impacts on three local ESs were quantified, i.e. offshore wind energy provisioning, nursery and habitat maintenance and aesthetic value, while for the other life cycle stages site-generic impacts on multiple ESs were calculated. A comprehensive list of data was inventoried to conduct both the LCA and ESA studies. The monetized impact results were then aggregated and monetized at the level of three areas of protection, i.e. human health and well-being, natural resources and ecosystem quality. The results show that the OWF has a net handprint of +€85,196, mainly due to electricity production, while the absolute footprint (−€4039) consists largely of impacts associated to the supply chain of materials to manufacture the offshore windfarm. Furthermore, this study compares the (socio-) environmental performance of an OWF with nuclear energy, which is used as benchmark because of its high importance for electricity supply in Belgium. This study is a first step towards a valuable contribution to understanding the multi-scale burdens and benefits of offshore wind energy, which can support decision- and policy-making.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001092601200001

Bibliographic citation

de Luca Peña, L.V.; Taelman, S.E.; Bas, B.; Staes, J.; Mertens, J.; Clavreul, J.; Préat, N.; Dewulf, J. (2024). Monetized (socio-)environmental handprint and footprint of an offshore windfarm in the Belgian Continental Shelf: An assessment of local, regional and global impacts. Appl. Energy 353: 122123. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122123

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true