Abstract
Tidal energy is a renewable energy able to be used for decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels which are the main emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the environment (Rashedi et al., 2022).
According to Rashidi et al. (2022), as well as Walker and Thies (2022), tidal energy technologies have the capacity to generate part of the electricity for the world energy demand; tidal energy is easily predictable because ocean currents are driven by the gravity forces induced by the moon and the sun. Although tidal energy has the potential to generate electricity, it technologies might not be without environmental impact, because some of its manufacturing processes, such as the acquisition and transformation of materials, installation, operation, maintenance and dismantling, provoke environmental impacts (Walker & Thies, 2022 and Rashedi et al., 2022). To mitigate these impacts, some studies recommend the implementation of recyclable materials, and others suggest incineration and landfilling (Walker & Thies, 2022).
Despite the progress in the tidal stream technology, it is at an early stage of development yet. So far, scarce research has been conducted on the environmental impact of materials used in turbine blades, including those that can be recycled and those that cannot and limited studies are available related to other industrial sectors (Walker & Thies, 2022).
This paper reviews the potentials of the most used materials in turbine construction by determining their contribution in eighteen (18) impact categories using life cycle analysis (LCA) assessment. The scope of the method includes five stages of the process: manufacture of materials, installation, operation, maintenance, and dismantling. Then, the LCA results of tidal energy are compared with the results other technologies in the offshore industry.