Page 261 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Hydropower Life-Cycle Inventories 251

resources, a literature review was carried out instead of screening procedures for
the LCI’s development. Initially, a broad search for information about power
plants was performed. A visit to the Itaipu power plant made possible the col-
lection of field data and contact with the technical staff from the time of the
construction. A former consultant was interviewed, bringing a clear picture of the
building site, but also quantitative data, and relevant information about the ven-
ture. From these procedures, it was possible to establish the scope of the study.
The project’s second step comprised the application of data collection proce-
dure. The activity was divided on two parts: obtaining information on consump-
tions of materials and energy; and, afterwards, data able to express the most
important environmental burdens of the life-cycle processes of this material and
energy inputs were estimated. The first of these steps used information previously
collected, from specific literature on the dam. On the other hand, second step
demanded a new literature review, from which data of the inputs life-cycle pro-
cesses were collected from the time of the construction in the 1970s. Subsequently,
both estimations were joined with the help of a software proper to support LCA
studies. As the objective of the study was to develop a database, no impact
assessment was planned. The complete set of hypothesis and assumptions, data,
and calculations, results and conclusions, apart from the LCI itself, are available
for consultation (Ribeiro and Silva 2010). Some methodological aspects were also
previously published in a conference paper by the authors (Ribeiro and Silva
2004).

4.4 Life-Cycle Inventory of Itaipu Hydropower Plant

As general guideline, the development of the LCI for Itaipu Power Plant followed
the ISO standards for LCA (ISO 1997, 1998). To this framework, all previous
methodological recommendations were added . In order to fulfill the formal
structure proposed by ISO, the study outcomes are presented according to the
normative steps on the following.

4.4.1 Goal and Scope Definitions

In terms of goal definition, the study had intended to develop a representative LCI
for hydropower generation in Brazil. From this effort, it was expected to fulfill a
gap in LCA studies developed in the country, where international databases were
used in order to express environmental burdens associated to electricity. LCA
practitioners are the target readership of the study.
According to ISO statements, the first step in terms of scope definition
embraces the establishment of the function and the functional unit for the study. As
recommended by international experience, the function considered for the power