Daniel Garraín

Centro Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas | CIEMAT · Energy Systems Analysis Unit, Department of Energy

The maintenance and rehabilitation of roads is becoming a key challenge in the pavement industry to decrease the consumption of natural resources. Microwave-assisted self-healing technology extends the life-service of asphalt pavements for roads reducing the need for fossil fuels over its lifespan and saving the use of natural resources. This techn...

Self-healing is a preventive maintenance technique developed to extend the service life of road pavements, accordingly, increasing their sustainability: energy consumption savings, lower emissions, and a decrease in the use of non-renewable resources. Microwave (MW) self-healing technology consists of heating the binder so it can flow and fill the...

Self-healing roads are a new generation of pavements whose materials are capable of recovering their original properties after having suffered breakages or failures. This innovative technology aims to reduce the consumption of natural resources and non-renewable energy in the whole life-cycle of roads, due to the potential achievement of increasing...

A sustainability assessment regarding the manufacturing process and the use of a new proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), specially designed for portable hydrogen applications, is presented. The initial fuel cell prototype has been configured by taking into account exclusively technical issues. However, a life cycle analysis considering envi...

Solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) is a key material for the development of crystalline silicon photovoltaics (PV), which is expected to reach the tera-watt level in the next years and around 50TW in 2050. Upgraded metallurgical grade silicon (UMG-Si) has already demonstrated to be a viable alternative to standard polysilicon in terms of cost and quality...

The development of energy from renewable sources and its increasing over the years has been an alternative issue in order to achieve a more sustainable future and to replace fossil energy. This study focuses on photovoltaic energy, with an expected increase of almost 300% the next decade, and estimating to reach an installed power of more than 1,50...

Photovoltaic energy has been considerably growing for the past few years. There are currently more than 500 GW installed worldwide and it is estimated that power could reach 8,500 GW in 2050. Therefore, one of the consequences of this increase will be the high volume of generated waste in the coming decades. Estimations could reach 78 megatons in 2...

The main objective of the Competitive Solar Power Towers (CAPTure) project was to increase plant efficiencies and reduce levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) by developing all relevant components that allow implementing an innovative plant configuration. This plant configuration was based on a multi-tower decoupled advanced solar combined cycle (DS...

Upgraded metallurgical grade silicon (UMG-Si) for photovoltaic (PV) solar applications has been manufactured through the metallurgical route by means of the process developed by Ferrosolar. In an ambitious mass production test, performed in commercial solar cells and modules production lines, the silicon was proven to be appropriate for photovoltai...

Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems have been increasingly used as a means to generate electricity on-site, and their diffusion will increase in the near future. The objective of this article is to carry out a sustainability assessment of a BIPV system installed in Turkey regarding the three pillars: environmental, economic and social p...

Novel renewable energy technologies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region can be developed through microgeneration systems aiming to supply local energy demands in a sustainable way. In this study, we carried out a sustainability assessment combining two reputable methodologies which have been applied to a facility comprising a hybrid s...

Road surfaces are subject to wear and tear due to materials ageing, weathering and the action of road traffic. Periodic rehabilitation or reconstruction is needed in order to restore them. This manuscript presents an environmental assessment of a traditional road pavement rehabilitation technique (with hot mix asphalt) in Spain by means of a life c...

Energy demand and GHG emissions assessment of PV panels recycling processes in Spain

This paper presents a set of prospective LCA studies of electricity production technologies of the Spanish mix from 2014 to 2050. The projection of the power system has been done by using the TIMES-Spain energy model, in which two prospective scenarios have been implemented, a Business as Usual (BaU) and other with a target of 80% reduction in CO2...

Researchers have developed a new indicator for policymakers, which shows the strength of renewable-energy technologies for electricity production in a country’s energy security. They compare their Renewable Energy Security Index (RESI) to the carbon footprint, in that it is easy to report and practical to use in energy policy.

Providing a safe, clean and sustainable energy supply to all world citizens is one of the greatest challenges of this century. Sustainable energy could be defined as the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Then, sustainable energy has two main key co...

Novel renewable energy systems need a progressively development regarding the rising global energy demand and the consequently impacts of an energy mix mainly based on fossil fuel resources. Additionally, the impact assessment of these technologies should be analysed along the whole supply chain in the three sustainability pillars so that not only...

Energy security is a wide-ranging term to encompass issues such as security of supply, reliability of infrastructures, affordability and environmental friendliness. This article develops a robust indicator –the Renewable Energy Security Index, RESI– to enrich the body of knowledge associated with the presence of renewable energy technologies within...

When environmental impacts are expressed in terms of loss of welfare, using a monetary unit, external costs are obtained that can be easily used in a cost–benefit analysis or be internalized through the appropriate environmental policy instruments. The objective of this study was to assess, from an economic perspective, the environmental consequenc...

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions from biofuels can be significantly affected if the effect of indirect Land Use Change (iLUC) is considered, especially in the case of first generation biofuels. This study presents the theoretical concept of iLUC and its relationship with GHG emissions, the different models to quantify this effect and the...

The aim of this paper is to identify areas of potential improvement of the European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD) electricity datasets. The revision is based on the data quality indicators described by the International Life Cycle Data system (ILCD) Handbook, applied on sectorial basis. These indicators evaluate the technological, geographic...

The aim of this study is to identify areas of potential improvement of the European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD) fuel datasets. The revision is based on the data quality indicators described by the ILCD Handbook, applied on sectorial basis. These indicators evaluate the technological, geographical and time-related representativeness of the...

Under the framework of the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, the European Reference Life-Cycle Database (ELCD - developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission), provides core Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data from front-running EU-level business associations and other sources. The ELCD contains energy-related data on powe...

This study tries to find out the hotspots of the Spanish cement sector in 2010 by the life cycle assessment (LCA) and evaluates some improvement scenarios where best available technologies and substitution measures are taken into consideration. The document presents an environmental LCA of the cement production using the 2011 International Referenc...

Cement production is one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in Spain. Making cement requires great amounts of energy in form of heat since fossil fuels are burnt in the kiln. However, up to 60% of the CO2 emissions come from limestone calcination with very difficult emission reduction strategies. For that reason, several solutions have been imple...

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of HidroBioDiésel (HBD) was carried out. This partly renewable diesel fuel is obtained from the co-processing of soybean vegetable oil with conventional fossil fuel in hydrotreating facilities of crude oil refineries. The environmental profile of HBD was assessed for the fossil energy use and climate change impac...

This study presents an Exploratory Environmental Impact Assessment (EEIA) of the manufacturing process of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell mounted in a cargobike, a three-wheel assisted-pedalling vehicle that is equipped to carry small loads, from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. Results show that metals (both their production...

The European Reference Life-Cycle Database (ELCD) has been developed by the European Commission‟s Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) and provides core Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data from front-running EU-level business associations and, where not available, other sources. Within the ELCD, several energy-related data are provided, being energy a major...

http://www.ambientum.com/revista/2013/febrero/Aplicacion-gvSIG-estudio-evaluacion-impacto-ambiental-transporte-residuos.asp

Oil hydrotreating units in refineries are aimed at reducing the sulphur content of mineral fuels in order to get compliance with standard specifications. Moreover, this process is one of the best available technologies to obtain biofuels from vegetable oil at present. This study presents the GHG emissions of the biofuel HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable...

Current environmental, economic and policy concerns regarding the sustainability of the energy sources used in aviation, a question arises: which are the alternatives for this sector? The answer is simple: it is necessary to focus efforts on alternative renewable sources. This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies of Life Cycle Assessmen...

This study presents a state of the art of several studies dealing with the environmental impact assessment of fuel cell (FC) vehicles and the comparison with their conventional fossil-fuelled counterparts, by means of the Life Cycle As-sessment (LCA) methodology. Results declare that, depending on the systems characteristics, there are numerous env...

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