Developing carbon footprint assessment of wind turbines : applied to The United Kingdom

Abstract

The UK is committed to deliver 15% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. Currently UK are the leaders in the World for offshore wind, with more than 700 turbines already installed, the production of energy from the onshore and offshore wind turbines is enough to power two and a half million homes. The main purpose of generating renewable energy is to reduce the carbon emissions, but how much embedded carbon is there in one wind turbine? The purpose of this research work would be to investigate the embedded carbon of a wind turbine and determine the amount of energy required to offset its own carbon. In doing so the design of the current turbines could be investigated to determine if their design could be improved to reduce its embedded carbon.