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

• The environmental impacts of a solar absorption chiller system (AC) are calculated.
• The impacts are compared with an equivalently sized vapor compression system (VC).
• The cooling production of the AC is simulated using system-specific parameters.
• The VC system use-phase is the largest phase contributor to life cycle impacts.
• The AC system yields lower impact potentials for all four impact categories.

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.

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