Comparison of five exergoenvironmental methods applied to candidate energy systems for rural villages in developing countries

This paper tackles the environmental impact assessment of different energy systems for rural communities in developing countries. Ten systems are proposed, modelled, and assessed by five published methods: ReCiPe indicator combined with exergy, exergy wasted, thermo-ecological cost, extended exergy accounting, and extended thermoeconomics. All the methods constitute life cycle assessment (LCA) and mathematically take a similar form, combining an environmental impact assessment with exergetic analysis. Despite the inevitable difference of weighting between methods, most showed clear benefits to using responsibly grown Jatropha oil (rather than diesel) to generate electricity and all showed clear benefits of biogas over solar thermal or fuelwood heat. Analyses of error and sensitivity are presented at the end of the results and discussion section.

► Five exergoenvironmental methods compared.
► Energy systems for rural Indian villages analysed.
► Combining exergetic analysis with ReCiPe indicator yields least biased results.
► Sustainably grown biomass yields low environmental impact per unit exergy produced.
► 15% diesel substitution significantly increases environmental impact of plant oil driven electricity generators.