Rezumat/Abstract. The paper has as main objective the energy and environmental performances analysis of a solar thermal collector for domestic hot water, during its entire life cycle, in the specific climatic conditions of Romania. An energy analysis taking into account the energy flows which appear during all phases of the life cycle is presented, taking into consideration the energy obtained by the solar collector and the energy consumed during production process, transport, installation, maintenance, disposal. These processes generally consume energy produced in a classical way, from fossil fuels, so different pollutants are generated. Under these circumstances it’s interesting to observe if the studied equipment is a truly ecological one, managing to produce sufficient energy to counterbalance energy consumption and pollutants release production processses, normal use and disposal. The analysis is performed using available data at European level considering the production of solar thermal collectors. The energy produced by the system is computed based on climatic data for Bucharest (outdoor temperature and solar radiation).

Cuvinte cheie/Key words: life cycle assessment, renewable energy, solar thermal collector

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