Sustainability Assessment, Case of Study: Geothermal Power Plant

Published in: Engineering Innovations for Global Sustainability: Proceedings of the 14th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology
Date of Conference: July 20-22, 2016
Location of Conference: San Jose, Costa Rica
Authors: Onésimo Ni
Ricardo Velásquez
Guadalupe González
Refereed Paper: #302

Abstract:

Renewable energy resources have gained relevance in countries worldwide as an alternative to diversify, in a more environmentally amicable manner, its energy matrix. However, even though the use of the resource might be considered as a step forward towards achieving sustainability, in terms of the power plant, the environmental impact its only one aspect. Economic and social aspects should be study altogether with the environmental ones so that a holistic sustainability assessment can be provided. It is important to bear in mind that even though the impact of renewable power plants might be considered beneficial for a global area (for instance, a country) it might not be for the area where it is located, thus the relevance of a sustainability assessment. In this article we will perform a sustainability assessment study using two ideal scenarios of geothermal power plants projects for comparison. A set of sustainability indicators will be presented taking into account important aspects of geothermal power plants construction and operation while integrating the sustainability criteria.