Geothermal energy production in Italy: an LCA approach for environmental performance optimization

Geothermal energy is a resource of natural and renewable energy and its exploita-tion in the Italian Tuscany Region contributes significantly to the regional share of electricity generation from renewable sources, with a value that has grown to about 35% in 2015. The energy produced by geothermal source, such as that pro-duced by other energy sources, generates non-negligible impacts on the environ-ment, closely related to the site-specificity of the source itself. This preliminary study analyzes the operational phase of seven geothermal plants located in the three main Tuscan geothermal areas, with a specific focus on the impacts generat-ed by emissions into the atmosphere. The aim is the assessment of the geothermal power plants environmental performances in relation the geomorphological char-acteristics of the sites and the technologies used to exploit the resource.