Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems

Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions to the Energies Special Issue on “Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems”.

We are currently at the epicenter of a revolution in the energy sector that is going to have profound implications in our everyday lives. In theory, this should result in the creation of a more sustainable system where energy will be more plentiful and readily available, cheaper, and also greener. The effective deployment of this new energy model requires the development of advanced technologies and strategies capable of reducing the existing dependence on fossil fuels, increasing the contribution of locally available renewables and improving efficiency throughout the value chain of the energy systems involved, including extraction of energy resources, transformation, transference/transport, storage, and use. The real consequences of these transformations cannot be readily envisaged due to inherent uncertainties in the definition of the new systems and the complex interdependences generated between the sustainability elements involved (environment, economy, society). Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology widely accepted to evaluate the sustainability of complex systems, like the ones that should emerge in future energy models. This Special Issue on “LCA of Energy Systems” is intended to bring together key and inspiring research on the development and application of life-cycle-based methodology to evaluate the technologies, strategies, and policies that will shape the future energy system. These include environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), social life cycle assessment (S-LCA), life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA), etc. The practical use of these tools to evaluate the sustainability of goods and services in the fields of energy, transport, food, construction, waste management, and consumer goods are welcome. The use of advanced methodological approaches to life-cycle-based assessment such as consequential evaluation, dynamic LCA, development of product category rules, interpretation of LCA results for decision making, and aggregation of sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, and social) into life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) will also be of interest.

Prof. Dr. Guillermo San Miguel
Assist. Prof. Dr. Sergio Alvarez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.