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Abstract This paper presents the impact of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of microalgal biodiesel compared with the conventional petroleum based diesel via life cycle assessment (LCA). The results indicated that the fossil energy consumption of upstream stage for microalgal biodiesel was higher than that of petroleum based diesel, except for petroleum consumption and GHG emissions. The growth of microalgae was the most energyintensive stage during its life cycle, followed by oil extraction stage. From the perspective of the full life cycle, microalgal biodiesel (BD100) can reduce the life cycle petroleum consumption and GHG emissions. At present, the use of BD20 can decrease the life cycle fossil energy consumption and GHG emissions.
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