Browsing by Author "Afrane, G."
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Item Analysis of the life-cycle costs and environmental impacts of cooking fuels used in Ghana(Applied Energy, 2012-10) Afrane, G.; Ntiamoah, A.This study evaluated the life-cycle costs and environmental impacts of fuels used in Ghanaian households for cooking. The analysis covered all the common cooking energy sources, namely, firewood, charcoal, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity and even biogas, whose use is not as widespread as the others. In addition to the usual costing methods, the Environmental Product Strategies approach (EPS) of Steen and co-workers, which is based on the concept of 'willingness-to-pay' for the restoration of degraded systems, is used to monetise the emissions from the cookstoves. The results indicate that firewood, one of the popular woodfuels in Ghana and other developing countries, with an annual environmental damage cost of US$ 36,497 per household, is more than one order of magnitude less desirable than charcoal, the nearest fuel on the same scale, at US$ 3120. This method of representing the results of environmental analysis is complementary to the usual gravimetric life-cycle assessment (LCA) representation, and brings home clearly to decision-makers, especially non-LCA practitioners, the significance of environmental analysis results in terms that are familiar to all. © 2012.Item Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Charcoal, Biogas, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas as Cooking Fuels in Ghana(Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2011-08) Afrane, G.; Ntiamoah, A.Standard life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been used to determine and compare the environmental impacts of three different cooking fuels used in Ghana, namely, charcoal, biogas, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). A national policy on the use of cooking fuels would have to look at the environmental, social, and cost implications associated with the fuel types. This study looked at the environmental aspect of using these fuels. The results showed that global warming and human toxicity were the most significant overall environmental impacts associated with them, and charcoal and LPG, respectively, made the largest contribution to these impact categories. LPG, however, gave relatively higher impacts in three other categories of lesser significance-that is, eutrophication, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, and terrestrial ecotoxicity potentials. Direct comparison of the results showed that biogas had the lowest impact in five out of the seven categories investigated. Charcoal and LPG had only one lowest score each. From the global warming point of view, however, LPG had a slight overall advantage over the others, and it was also the most favorable at the cooking stage, in terms of its effect on humans. © 2011 by Yale University.Item Examining the potential for liquid biofuels production and usage in Ghana(Energy Policy, 2012-01) Afrane, G.The perennial political and social upheavals in major oil-producing regions, the increasing energy demand from emerging economies, the global economic crisis and even environmental disasters, like the recent major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, all contribute to price fluctuations and escalations. Usually price instability affects the least-developed countries with the most fragile economies, like Ghana, the most. This paper gives a brief overview of the Ghanaian energy situation, describes the liquid biofuel production processes and examines the possibility of replacing some of the fossil fuels consumed annually, with locally produced renewable biofuels. Various scenarios for substituting different portions of petrol and diesel with biofuels derived from cassava and palm oil are examined. Based on 2009 crop production and fuel consumption data, replacement of 5% of both petrol and diesel with biofuels would require 1.96% and 17.3% of the cassava and palm oil produced in that year, respectively; while replacement of 10% of both fossil fuels would need 3.91% and 34.6% of the corresponding biofuels. Thus while petrol replacement could be initiated with little difficulty, regarding raw material availability, biodiesel would require enhanced palm oil production and/or oil supplement from other sources, including, potentially, jatropha. An implementation strategy is proposed. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.Item Potential feedstocks for bioethanol production as a substitute for gasoline in Ghana(Renewable Energy, 2013-07) Osei, G.; Arthur, R.; Afrane, G.; Agyemang, E.O.Developed countries are aspiring to increase the production of biofuels in order to reduce dependence on crude oil and also improve energy security, developing countries such as Ghana can adopt biofuel technologies to provide supports for rural developments. Bioethanol has been identified as one of the biofuels that can be developed in order to meet the targets as stipulated in Ghana's Strategic National Energy Plan (SNEP) up to 2020. The focus of this study was to identify the available feedstocks and their quantities for bioethanol production that can support this policy. The potential energy crops identified were cassava, yam and maize. However, cassava was identified to be the most suitable feedstock for bioethanol production since an average of less than 50% of its domestic supply is consumed as food. Even if best farming practices were adapted, bioethanol from yam and maize would not be significant compared to that of cassava. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.