Sustainability issues around bioenergy (Biofuels) Flashcards
What is biomass?
“Biomass is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms.
In the context of biomass for energy, this is often used to mean plant based material, but biomass can equally apply
to both animal and vegetable derived material.”
4 types of biomass feedstocks
- Biomass from primary production
- Primary residues
- Secondary residues
- Tertiary residues
What is Biomass from primary production?
Agri crops
Energy crops
Forest wood
What is primary residue
Agri crops (stalks, etc.) forestry (fallen tree branches?) lifestock
What is secondary residue
processing of crops and wood
rice husks, wood chips
What is tertiary residues
after end-use waste
How many generations of biofuel exist
3, exluding 1,2 or 3 icm ccs
otherwise 4
What is the first generation of biofuel?
Food crops are used for production
sugar, oil and starch crops
what is the second generation of biofuel?
non-food crops and residues are used for production
wood, agricultural waste, waste oil/fats, non edible feedstock
What is third generation biofuel
algea based
Downside of first generation biofuel
- Reliance on food crops for fuel
- limited cost reductions possible
- GHG emissions
(We already excel at food production, no very large improvements can be made there to reduce price or limit ghg (fertilizer))
Advantages of second generation biofuel
- no direct competition with food
- use of residues
- expectations for high cost reductions
- lower GHG emissions (trough carbon sequestration.)
(there will be more biomass on a second generation field than with food crop production.)
Delays in 2nd generation biofuel
Why would companies invest in a product that is not being promoted by clear policy.
Reasons for bioenergy
- Renewable energy
- energy security
- alternative market outlet for farmers
- response to oil crisis
Land use and biofuels
energy crops only use a very small amount of land
Bio energy use in the future
differs greatly per projection.
Birka things it is necessary to meet future energy demand
Do we have enough biomass?
Technically we could make enough biomass to meet the demand, but not sure if it could be done sustainable?
2 forms of land use change
direct
indirect
direct land use change
changing the use of land from it’s original form to a different form
(e.g. foodcrop to energy crop.)
issues related to land use change
- biodiversity loss from habitat loss
- displacement of local population (leading to land tenure conflicts) => (Canadian natives and tarsand?)
- GHG emissions from deforestation and conversion of other carbon rich land
- High food prices because land used for biofuels production instead of food
Food vs. fuel
- is an emotional debate
- science tells us that biofuel is a factor in price increase, but other factors have been more important
ILUC
indirect land use change
What is ILUC
the land use change (on the other side of the world) caused by local land use change.
Example, food crops in europe become energy crops. Some other location therefore has to produce food crops. The luc in that other location is the ILUC
Differences in LUC related ghg emissions models
can be explained by model inputs.
e.g. only counting conversion of forest to energy crop, not pastures to energy crop.
What lead to ghg reduction in luc models?
• Inclusion of pastureland conversion
• Treatment of animal feed co-products
• Crop yields (both for agricultural crops and
bioenergy crops) on existing agricultural land
and newly converted land,
• The fraction of carbon that is stored in wood
products
ILUC mitigation/prevention
- only support/use low risk ILUC biofuels (2nd generation?)
- above baseline yield development
- biofuel feedstock production on under-utilized lands
- land zoning
