The life cycle assessment of a solar-assisted absorption chilling system in Bangkok, Thailand

Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology following ISO 14044:2006 standard is utilized to analyze the environmental impacts of implementing a solar/electric hybrid cooling system in a stadium of 15,000 seating capacity. Four impact categories are investigated: 100 year global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, eutrophication potential, and abiotic resource depletion (ARD) potential. The life cycle emissions of the solar-assisted absorption chiller (AC) system are compared to that of a conventional electricity-consuming vapor compression (VC) chilling system. The use-phase electricity consumption of the VC and the life time cooling production of the solar-assisted AC are simulated. The results yield reduced AC system net life cycle impacts for GWP, acidification, eutrophication and ARD potentials by factors of 25.8, 40.1, 33.6, and 37.7%, respectively, when compared with those of the VC system. It is found that use-phase impact savings due to the cooling production of the solar AC outweigh the higher non-use phase (raw material extraction, refining, unit manufacturing, transportation, and disposal) impacts of the solar-assisted AC system, and thus the system is found to be environmentally advantageous. The results are applicable to similar cooling systems and building systems within Southeast Asia. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.