Life cycle assessment of geothermal power generation technologies: An updated review

The analysis of the review shows that the environmental impacts are evaluated by considering from 1 to 18 impact categories commonly used in life cycle assessment (LCA). These impacts are mainly affected by: (i) reservoir characteristics; (ii) geothermal fluid chemistry; (iii) power generation technology; (iv) type of emissions of the life cycle inventory; and (v) data availability. Most of the LCA studies reported global warming, which is mostly caused by the fuel consumption in the construction and operation stages. A deeper analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts to promote an environmental sustainable management of geothermal power generation is proposed, which still represents a challenge for this industrial sector.