We were involved in the pioneering work on "Oekoinventare von Energiesystemen", decorated with the ABB energy technology award in 1999, in the development of the internationally leading ecoinvent database and in large European projects such as ECLIPSE, NEEDS and RENEW.
Many working results and case studies are available for download. Or follow the links for a detailed description of some of our projects.
The energy efficiency and the environmental performance differs substantially between the technologies. Primary energy is more efficiently used by renewable energy technologies such as hydro power, wind power, biogas, and photovoltaics. The energy losses are highest with nuclear power: 3 Watt are lost under way when providing 1 Watt electricity to the citizens. The assessment is based on the consensus modelling of the ecoinvent Centre, involving ETHZ, EPFL, PSI, Empa and ART.
The environmental impacts, expressed with the ecological scarcity method, are lowest with hydro power, waste incineration and wind power. The environmental impacts of nuclear power are more than twice as high than electricity from wood or biogas.
In a recent study performed for Engie Lab, Brussels (BE), the human health impacts of current power plant technologies were assessed and published in a short report. In this work, the human health effects of accidental radioactive releases of the major accidents in nuclear power plants were estimated and compared to those of normal operation.
Calculate the environmental impacts of your electricity mix, your district heat, your heat pump including the corresponding electricity mix and of various transport services.