Search

The aim of the present study was to propose two ways for calculating the final price to be paid to suppliers of forest biomass based on the energy content of the fuel. Moisture content (MC) and ash content (AC) were considered quality indicators for a co-generation plant located in Lages, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Two models are proposed for the three biofuels most acquired by the plant (wood chips, sawdust and bark): Model 1, based on the Net Calorific Value (NCV) estimated considering the moisture content (MC) and ash content (AC) of the biomass; and Model 2, with the AC discounted from the dry weight of the biomass and subsequent estimate of the NCV considering the MC. The final price corresponded to the calculation between the weight and estimated NCV, with the suggestion of a bonus and discount for materials of better or worse quality, respectively. A significant reduction in biomass weight occurred after the ash discount, especially in the case of bark, which had a high AC. The price paid for kJ of biomass proved to be more coherent than the price per ton, since the ash and water content of the material is taken into account.

This work models the carbon neutralization capacity of Brazil's ethanol program since 1975. In addition to biofuel, we also assessed the mitigation potential of other energy products, such as, bioelectricity, and CO 2 emissions captured during fermentation of sugar cane's juice. Finally, we projected the neutralization capacity of sugar cane's bio-energy system over the next 32 years. The balance between several carbon stocks and flows was considered in the model, including the effects of land-use change. Our results show that the neutralization of the carbon released due to land-use change was attained only in 1992, and the maximum mitigation potential of the sugar cane sector was 128 tonnes of CO 2 per ha in 2006. An ideal reconstitution of the deployment of the sugar cane sector, including the full exploitation of bio-electricity's potential, plus the capture of CO 2 released during fermentation, shows that the neutralization of land-use change emissions would have been achieved in 1988, and its mitigation potential would have been 390 tCO 2 /ha. Finally, forecasts of the sector up to 2039 shows that the mitigation potential in 2039 corresponds to 836 tCO 2 /ha, which corresponds to 5.51 kg of CO 2 per liter of ethanol produced, or 55% above the negative emission level.

This paper aims to produce a quantitative approach on the overall measures and on public support framework for biomass for energy, based on the EU countries reports under RED and existing literature. The way in which the support for biomass is implemented in the EU energy sector is not similar across EU countries. Feed-in tariffs and feed-in-premiums are still the dominant support schemes for the deployment of bioelectricity, whereas subsidies remain the main support for bioheat. Furthermore, a vast number of EU countries apply mandatory blending quotas for biofuels for transport. The paper shows that biomass for energy has a key role within the EU policy support for RES, in which targets are the main drivers, together with overarching biomass guidelines to anticipate any environmental constraints. Stable support showed the highest effectiveness in the past and remains the key factor for biomass deployment beyond 2020. The renewed targets need to be accompanied by long-term support measures and a commonly shared policy vision. A further harmonization of public bioenergy support towards a single EU cleaner energy market is recommended. This implies four policy actions for all EU countries: in-depth efficiency review, integration with RED-2, compatible sustainability guidelines and local impact assessments.

Globally, 2.6 billion people still cook with biomass, resulting in interlinked health, environmental and drudgery challenges. The uptake of improved biomass cookstoves has barely kept up with population growth, yet SDG7 hopes for universal access to modern energy by 2030. This paper explores a potentially transformative new approach to facilitate access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for cooking by leveraging rapid progress in electrification and falling prices of solar PV and lithium-ion batteries: battery-supported electric cooking. This paper presents empirical evidence on energy use, menu choices and cooking preferences from 83 households in 4 countries who transitioned from other fuels to electric cooking. A techno-economic model demonstrates that battery-supported electric cooking can be cost competitive with current expenditures on cooking fuels. No significant change in household menus occurred and the energy-efficient devices enabled 100% of everyday cooking with just 0.87–2.06 kWh/household/day. Our initial findings have already directly influenced the development of a 5-year UKAid-funded programme in collaboration with the World Bank, ‘Modern Energy Cooking Services’, and the new draft energy policy in Uganda. The paper concludes with two key policy recommendations: design lifeline tariffs inclusive of cooking and develop local markets for culturally-appropriate, quality-assured, energy-efficient cooking appliances.

In Ethiopia biomass is predominantly utilized for household energy needs often using inefficient rudimentary stoves which cause adverse environmental and welfare effects. This paper examined the contribution of biomass resources to rural household energy use and energy substitution. The analysis applied the ordinary least square in the final stage estimation of fuelwood and overall biomass energy consumption by using predicted shadow prices. The paper used Tobit model to estimate charcoal and agricultural fuel consumption due to the presence of censoring. An increase in fuelwood shadow price was associated with reduced household fuelwood consumption with price elasticity of −0.38. The cross price elasticity between fuelwood and agricultural fuels revealed no evidence of energy substitution, which conforms to the findings of previous studies. Household access to electricity was associated with lower household biomass energy utilization but kerosene was not fuelwood substitute. Household energy use conformed to the ‘fuel stacking’ or ‘multiple fuel use’ concept, but households preferred modern energy options as welfare increased in areas where modern energy is available. This suggests that there is a promising prospect for fuel-transition, but access to modern energy and economic growth have key roles. The findings suggest that a concerted policy effort is required that would help diversify rural livelihoods, improve living standards and encourage economic growth, encourage inter-fuel substitution through improved modern energy access and afforestation to increase biomass supply.

The economic development in emerging economies in Southeast Asia has significantly increased the use of fossil fuel based energy. This has severe implications for global climate change, and against this background, scholars within the sustainable transition tradition have taken an interest in addressing how transitions towards more sustainable development pathways in this region may be achieved. This paper contributes to the abovementioned literature by examining the conducive and limiting factors for development and proliferation of a palm oil biomass waste-to-energy niche in Malaysia during the period 1990–2011. Rising oil prices, strong pressure on the palm oil industry from environmental groups, and a persisting palm oil biomass waste disposal problem in Malaysia appear to have been conducive to niche proliferation, and on top of this national renewable energy policies and large-scale donor programmes have specifically supported the utilisation of palm oil biomass waste for energy. However, in spite of this, the niche development process has only made slow progress. The paper identifies reluctant implementation of energy policy, rise in biomass resource prices, limited network formation and negative results at the niche level, as the main factors hindering niche development.

Alternative energy sources, such as biomass CHP plants, have recently gained significantly in importance and action is due both on the large scale corporate level and on the small scale. Hence, making the scope and economic outline of such projects easily intelligible without losing relevant details seems a key factor to further promote the necessary developments. The model setup presented in this paper may therefore serve as a starting point for generating numerical results based on real life cases or scenarios. Its focus lies on the economic analysis of decentralized biomass CHP plants. It presents a new approach to analyzing the economic aspects of biomass CHP plants implementing a formal microeconomic approach. As Germany claims a leading role in the market for renewable energy production, the paper also takes a closer look on the effects of German energy policy with respect to biomass CHP plants.

This paper uses a new approach of retro-analysis. Typically policy is informed by forward-looking analysis of potential for alternative energy technologies. But historical knowledge of energy and processing requirements and greenhouse effects is more reliable for engineering evaluation of biofuel production systems. This study calculates energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions for the most efficient biomass feedstocks in New Zealand if the policy had been implemented to maximize liquid biofuel production in the year 2004/2005. The study uses existing processing technologies and agricultural statistics. Bioethanol production is calculated from putrescible wastes and starch crops, and biodiesel production from rapeseed, tallow, wood and waste paper. Each production system is further evaluated using measures of land use, energy input, crop production related to the energy product, plus relative measures of efficiency and renewability. The research findings are that maximum biofuel production in 2004/2005 would have provided only a few per cent of demand, and would not have reduced dependence on foreign imported oil or exposure to fuel price rise. Finally, we conclude that demand management and efficiency are more effective means of meeting policy objectives.

Approximately 87% of Nepal's total final energy is consumed by households. This paper analyzes the patterns of household energy use and associated air pollutant emissions in Nepal based on LEAP framework for thirteen analytical regions and three end-uses. Four scenarios involving different growth paths for socio economic and energy system development through the year 2040 are considered. The study finds that household energy use is heterogeneous across the regions and biomass for cooking dominates the country's energy-mix. Households' CO2 emissions are less significant but their local indoor pollutant emissions will continue to rise in the future. To help strengthen government's commitment to the UN's sustainable energy for all initiative, this study devises an energy development index (EDI) to assess country's energy access and poverty across the regions. The results reveal that the current level of both energy access and energy poverty in the country is below the basic human needs and this situation will improve by little in next 30 years. The paper argues that to improve these situations require more coordinated and innovative plans and policies from the government. The paper suggests that greater emphasis will be needed in reducing dependence of biomass for cooking, promoting domestic alternative energy sources, scaling up biomass improved cookstoves programs and developing periodic regional level energy database.

In this paper the energy and carbon footprints of pellet imports from Australia, West Canada, and Russia for co-firing in Europe are investigated. Their ecologic and economic performances are proven by applying the Belgian and UK co-firing subsidy systems, which require dedicated sustainability evaluations. Based on the modelling of different subsidy schemes and price scenarios, the present paper identifies favourable conditions for the use of biomass co-firing in Germany and Austria, which currently do not have dedicated co-firing incentives. The present paper shows that under present conditions, co-firing has a narrow financial gap to coal with −3 to 4 € Cent/kWh el and has low CO 2 mitigation costs compared to other renewables. Moreover, it is shown that co-firing is one of the most cost-attractive options to reach the EU-2020 targets. For policy makers, the support of co-firing is found to be very efficient in terms of cost-benefit ratio. It is proven that the co-firing subsidy schemes might direct supply chain decisions towards options with low energy and carbon impacts.

Increasing international biomass trade for energy and concerns about sustainability of globally traded biomass have raised interest in assessments of cross-border trade related to bioenergy. Within this paper, approaches to overcome methodological difficulties related to biomass trade are proposed and applied for the case of Austria. Biomass currently has a share of 15.5% in Austria’s primary energy consumption of 1354 PJ (2009). According to energy statistics, the rate of self-sufficiency with biomass for energy (defined as the ratio of domestic production to inland consumption, with both imports and exports taken into account) is 91%. However, feedstock imports for transport fuel production and indirect imports of wood-based fuels (wood processing residues and waste liquor of the paper industry originating from imported wood) are not taken into account in energy statistics, but prove to be of some significance. Imports of agricultural commodities to the amount of 9.7 PJ can be attributed to domestic biofuel production, and indirect imports of wood-based fuels, account for 31 PJ. With these import streams taken into account, the share of domestic fuels in bioenergy use is only 67%, rather than 84%, as official energy statistics suggest. On the other hand, Austria is exporting more than 50% of its production of sawnwood, panelboard and paper products.

Increasing energy use and the need to mitigate climate change make production of liquid biofuels ahigh priority. Farmers respond worldwide to this increasing demand by converting forests andgrassland into biofuel crops, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on the carbonemissions that occur when land use is changed to biofuel crops. This paper reports the results of astudy on cassava-based bioethanol production undertaken in the Sikasso region in Southern Mali.The paper outlines the estimated impacts on above-ground carbon stocks when land use is changed toincrease cassava production. The results show that expansion of cassava production for bioethanol willmost likely lead to the conversion of fallow areas to cassava. A land use change from fallow to cassavacreates a reduction in the above-ground carbon stocks in the order of 4–13 Mg C ha 1 , depending on(a) the age of the fallow, (b) the allometric equation used and (c) whether all trees are removed or thelarger, useful trees are preserved. This ‘carbon debt’ associated with the above-ground biomass losswould take 8–25 years to repay if fossil fuels are replaced with cassava-based bioethanol.& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper presents a case study of the electrification of a riparian community in the State of Para, Brazil, within the scope of the Program for Electric Power Service Universalization in Brazil. The community is located in a remote area; approximately 100 km from the municipal district, there is no regular transport to access the community, and adequate communication service. The community is provided with electrification facilities through a small biomass-based power plant, directly firing residues produced by the local economic activity. The objective of the paper is to propose a sustainable management model that is suitable for community's isolation conditions, considering the high costs with operation and maintenance related to the supply of isolated consumers in small locations. A simulation is conducted for the operation of the small biomass-based power plant, the generation costs are determined, the legal aspects are analyzed, and a suggestion for the management model is presented.

This paper presents estimates of renewables energy technologies disseminated in sub-Sahara Africa and evaluates the potential of renewables in meeting the energy needs of Africa's poor. Using data mainly from eastern and southern Africa, the paper examines five major renewable energy technologies, namely: (i) large-scale biomass energy; (ii) small-scale biomass energy (iii) solar photovoltaic; (iv) solar thermal; and (v) wind. It then evaluates how suitable each renewable energy technology is to meet the energy needs of the urban and rural poor. The paper ends with key measures that could encourage the large-scale dissemination of renewable energy technologies to the poor in Africa.

This paper presents the experience curves of low-carbon domestic heating technologies in the United Kingdom between 2010 and 2019. The deployment of these technologies has been acknowledged as one of the main actions toward decarbonising the heating sector. In the UK, several deployment oriented policies have been implemented, such as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). In this study, we focus on the following domestic heating technologies: air-source heat pumps, ground-source heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, and biomass boilers. Condensing combination gas boilers are also included to act as the baseline/incumbent technology. Using UK installation cost data for 2010 to 2019, we found that low-carbon heating technologies had experience rates of; air-source heat pumps −2.3 ± 5%, ground-source heat pumps −0.8 ± 4%, biomass boilers 0.1 ± 2%, and solar thermal 13 ± 5%, all significantly lower than the reported rates of similar technologies in the literature. Furthermore, we found that gas boilers have potentially reached the floor price at approximately £30/kW. The resulting experience rates can be used in energy economics models and to inform policymakers in developing further deployment programs.

In order to support transitions away from open-fire cooking and toward cleaner household energy systems, a better understanding of users’ technology adoption patterns and preferences is needed. This paper highlights key factors influencing use of two types of biomass-burning stoves provided through the REACCTING (Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technology in Northern Ghana) randomized intervention study. We examine traditional and improved stove use over a two year follow up period, finding that the more basic rocket stove was used at a higher rate than the higher-tech gasifier stove. While stove use patterns varied by stove group, region, primary cook occupation, and socioeconomic status, use of traditional stoves remained high across most groups. Users perceived that improved stoves were less suitable for cooking a staple dish, Tuo Zaafi (TZ), and technical problems (e.g., battery failures with the gasifier stove) also limited the effectiveness of the intervention. Moving forward, household energy policies should prioritize a range of technologies that have potential to meet local needs while delivering meaningful health and/or environmental benefits, recognizing that stove and fuel “stacking” is likely to persist. A greater focus on markets and enabling environments is needed to support sustainable and scalable energy transitions.

Residential energy consumption in rural China is undergoing a transition from traditional biomass energy to modern commercial energy. This paper examines the impact of rising wage rates on energy consumption mix in rural China. Using a unique panel data set from our two-round surveys of 409 rural households in 4 provinces, the results show that the wage rate at the village level has a significant negative impact on traditional biomass energy consumption and significant positive effects on consumption of electricity and new renewable energy in rural China. As traditional biomass energy is mainly collected with family labor and is relatively labor intensive, an increase in rural wage rates would enhance the opportunity costs of traditional biomass energy, leading to a reduction in biomass energy consumption. Continuously rising rural wage rates could accelerate the transition from biomass energy to electricity in rural areas. These findings could have important policy implications, not only for indoor air quality and environmental and health issues in rural areas but also for greater security in rural energy supply and policies to incentive farmers to better utilize biomass resource after harvest.

This paper estimates the economic and environmental impacts of introducing woody biomass processing (WBP) into a rural area in central Appalachia. WBP is among the most promising additions to energy generation portfolios for reducing import dependency while at the same time providing economic opportunity to stimulate regional economies, especially in rural regions where economic development options are often limited. We use an input-output framework to assess WBP under three different pathways, fast pyrolysis, ethanol and coal-biomass to liquids. We find that the proposed WBP will increase regional output by 0.5–1.3% of gross regional product; it will increase income by $17.32 to $51.31 million dollars each year, and regional employment by 218.1–1127.8 jobs, depending on the chosen pathway. Of these impacts, the direct portions are 63–77% of the total impact, depending on the chosen pathway. The economic analysis and the results from the accompanying environmental assessment show that only the ethanol pathway has both economic and environmental benefits. We conclude that because long-run economic development strategies in rural regions are limited and negative impacts do not alter dramatically the regional environmental profile, regional policymakers should include WBP among their development portfolio options.

Most households in sub-Saharan Africa rely on wood-based cooking fuels and their number is expected to rise. Despite this, national and subnational energy policies often neglect biomass cooking fuels. A Formative Scenario Analysis process is applied to show how the cooking fuel sector in Kilimanjaro Region (Tanzania) and Kitui County (Kenya) might evolve by 2030. In order to provide relevant knowledge for potential energy policies, this paper aims to identify the main drivers impacting the cooking fuel sector, and to assess and explore current and future demand and supply potential of biomass cooking fuels. Our results show that policies have the potential to substantially impact the future mix of cooking fuels and to foster or hamper the use of efficient cooking fuel technologies. Half of Kilimanjaro Region's households could be supplied with biogas; in Kitui County, wood-based cooking fuels is likely to remain dominant but improving the efficiency of the technologies would reduce the demand for wood considerably. Hence, we argue that energy policies should explicitly consider biomass cooking fuels and endeavour to make this sector more sustainable and that priority should be given to increasing the sustainability of the biomass cooking fuel sector. Key leverage points to do so are improving the access to improved biomass technologies and capacity building.

It is widely known that a switch from traditional biomass energy to modern clean, safe and efficient energy could improve local rural livelihoods by enhancing the access to ‘high quality’ energy and reducing the negative impacts of traditional biomass energy on health, environment and living standards. Hence, in this paper, we used alternative-specific conditional logit model (ASCLM) to examine the rural household energy choice behaviors in Sichuan Province of China from the perspective of revealed and stated preferences. The results show that the fuel switching in our study region is not a simple unidirectional process from traditional biomass energy to modern fuels as incomes improve. Household energy choice behaviors could be not only affected by energy-specific characteristics such as fuel price, smoky level and safety risk, but also influenced by household-specific factors such as income level, age and educational level of the decision maker, household demographic structure, number of people frequently eating at home, distance to the nearest biomass collecting spot and household location, suggesting that government should attach more importance to simultaneously improve energy quality, control energy price and enhance household socio-economic status.

The utilization of agricultural biomass for production of electric power can help to reduce the environmental emissions while achieving energy security and sustainable development. This paper presents a methodology for estimating the power production potential of agricultural biomass in a country. Further, the methodology has been applied to develop a roadmap for producing reliable power in India. The present study reveals that about 650 Mt/year of agricultural biomass is generated in India, while about one-third of this has been found to be surplus for energy applications. The cereal crops have major contribution (64.60%) in production of surplus biomass followed by sugarcane (24.60%) and cotton (10.68%). The energy potential of these resources is of the order of 3.72 EJ, which represents a significant proportion of the primary energy consumption in the country. These biomass resources can produce electric power of 23–35 GW depending upon the efficiency of thermal conversion. The delivery of biomass to the plants and selection of appropriate technology have been found as the major issues that need to be resolved carefully. In the end, the study summarizes various technological options for biomass collection and utilization that can be used for producing clean and consistent power supply.

The biomass sector has a strategic role in energy renewables policy, according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), elaborated in compliance with the Directive 2009/28/EC. Planning a suitable use of biomass for energy purposes call for the clear definition of the biomass potential, that has to be periodically updated by inventories for all EU countries. The aim of this paper has been the assessment of the available residual biomass, particularly lignocellulosic, in the Italian territory, to evaluate the potential for bioenergy, particularly for electricity and heat generation. The greenhouse gas savings according to the European target and indicators have been estimated on the national scale. Particularly, the total final energy which could be generated from 22,208,455 t/y of residual biomass assessed in Italy, is equal to 4.57 Mtoe, nearly 2.7% of the gross Italian energy consumption in 2013 and the total savings of GHG emissions coming from this bioenergy generation, are close to 52 Mt CO 2 eq for the entire Italian territory per year. The conclusions underline that an appropriate bioenergy policy can help decarbonise the economy, enhance the reliability of the energy supply and additionally it can revitalise rural areas.

Bioenergy is seen as one of the options for industrialised countries to wean themselves off fossil fuels. However bioenergy, transport biofuels in particular, has faced considerable environmental and social controversies. Biorefining has been proposed in the UK and Denmark to address these concerns by using biomass efficiently for multiple purposes (food, feed, fuel, chemicals). Drawing from frameworks on responsible innovation, this paper opens up the implicit assumptions within the biorefinery concept about how biomass should be produced. Stakeholder interviews show that the biorefinery concept is framed within an industrial agricultural paradigm that aims to overcome controversies through large-scale production stimulated by biotechnology innovation. By contrast, an “alternative agriculture” paradigm envisions sustainable multipurpose biomass production in terms of on-farm nutrient and energy cycling and local, smaller scale production. However, there is a potential overlap through the concept of quality industrial biomass production. These three visions provide different perspectives on the bioeconomy in terms of the differences between biomass and fossil fuels; and where biomass should come from. Policy development for bioenergy must reckon with these different visions in innovation pathways for multipurpose biomass.

This paper considers the effect of several key parameters of low carbon energy technologies on the cost of abatement. A methodology for determining the minimum level of performance required for a parameter to have a statistically significant impact on CO2 abatement cost is developed and used to evaluate the impact of eight key parameters of low carbon energy supply technologies on the cost of CO2 abatement. The capital cost of nuclear technology is found to have the greatest impact of the parameters studied. The cost of biomass and CCS technologies also have impacts, while their efficiencies have little, if any. Sensitivity analysis of the results with respect to population, GDP, and CO2 emission constraint show that the minimum performance level and impact of nuclear technologies is consistent across the socioeconomic scenarios studied, while the other technology parameters show different performance under higher population, lower GDP scenarios. Solar technology was found to have a small impact, and then only at very low costs. These results indicate that the cost of nuclear is the single most important driver of abatement cost, and that trading efficiency for cost may make biomass and CCS technologies more competitive.

This paper analyses the potential of biomass-based electricity in the EU-27 countries, and interactions with climate policy and the EU ETS. We estimate the potential biomass demand from the existing power plants, and we match our estimates with the potential biomass supply in Europe. Furthermore, we compute the CO2 abatement associated with the co-firing opportunities in European coal plants. We find that the biomass demand from the power sector may be very high compared with potential supply. We also identify that co-firing can produce high volumes of CO2 abatements, which may be two times larger than that of the coal-to-gas fuel switching. We also compute biomass and CO2 breakeven prices for co-firing. Results indicate that biomass-based electricity remains profitable with high biomass prices, when the carbon price is high: a Euros 16–24 (25–35, respectively) biomass price (per MWhprim) for a Euros 20 (50, respectively) carbon price. Hence, the carbon price appears as an important driver, which can make profitable a high share of the potential biomass demand from the power sector, even with high biomass prices. This aims to gain insights on how biomass market may be impacted by the EU ETS and others climate policies.

The UK has legally binding renewable energy and greenhouse gas targets. Energy from biomass is anticipated to make major contributions to these. However there are concerns about the availability and sustainability of biomass for the bioenergy sector. A Biomass Resource Model has been developed that reflects the key biomass supply-chain dynamics and interactions determining resource availability, taking into account climate, food, land and other constraints. The model has been applied to the UK, developing four biomass resource scenarios to analyse resource availability and energy generation potential within different contexts. The model shows that indigenous biomass resources and energy crops could service up to 44% of UK energy demand by 2050 without impacting food systems. The scenarios show, residues from agriculture, forestry and industry provide the most robust resource, potentially providing up to 6.5% of primary energy demand by 2050. Waste resources are found to potentially provide up to 15.4% and specifically grown biomass and energy crops up to 22% of demand. The UK is therefore projected to have significant indigenous biomass resources to meet its targets. However the dominant biomass resource opportunities identified in the paper are not consistent with current UK bioenergy strategies, risking biomass deficit despite resource abundance. ?? 2014.

Reducing dependency on fossil fuels and mitigating their environmental impacts are among the most promising aspects of utilizing renewable energy sources. The availability of various biomass resources has made it an appealing source of renewable energy. Given the variability of supply and sources of biomass, supply chains play an important role in the efficient provisioning of biomass resources for energy production. This paper provides a comprehensive review and classification of the excising literature in modeling of biomass supply chain operations while linking them to the wider strategic challenges and issues with the design, planning and management of biomass supply chains. On that basis, we will present an analysis of the existing gaps and the potential future directions for research in modeling of biomass supply chain operations.

This paper examines how biomass supply and consumption are affected by land use change in Uganda. We find that between 2007 and 2012 there was a 22% reduction in fuelwood sourced from proximate forests, and an 18% increase in fuelwood sourced from fallows and other areas with lower biomass availability and quality. We estimate a series of panel regression models and find that deforestation has a negative effect on total fuel consumed. We also find that access to forests, whether through ownership or proximity, plays a large role in determining fuel use. We then explore whether patterns of biomass fuel consumption are related to the incidence of acute respiratory infection using a cross-sectional data set of 1209 women and 598 children. We find a positive and significant relationship between ARI and the quantity of fuelwood from non-forest areas; a 100 kilogram increase in fuelwood sourced from a non-forest area results in a 2.4% increase in the incidence of ARI for children. We find the inverse effect of increased reliance on crop residues. As deforestation reduces the availability of high quality fuelwood, rural households may experience higher incidence of health problems associated with exposure to biomass burning.

Malaysia is the world′s second largest producer of palm oil and generates surplus palm biomass waste that can be used for bioenergy development. Malaysia aims to diversify its energy portfolio by investing into renewable energy mostly to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. This paper captures synergetic and conflicting interests of key stakeholders, who play an important role in shaping the regulatory and business environment in Malaysia′s renewable energy sector. Particularly, this research analyses the perceptions of three stakeholder groups (government agencies, industry players, and non-governmental organisations) regarding palm-based biofuel and biomass utilisation in Malaysia by combining Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis with an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework. Overall, results show a greater sense of optimism among the three stakeholder groups for the development of palm-based biomass utilisation in Malaysia, compared to the development of first generation palm-oil based biodiesel. We discuss the findings in light of on-going debates and policy processes, highlighting some key issues that need to be addressed in order to meet oil-palm related targets set in Malaysia’s ambitious renewable energy plan.

The State of Parana contributes significantly for the Brazilian production of sugar cane, ethanol, soybeans and pigs. In addition to the current production of ethanol, the State has a huge potential for electricity, biodiesel and biogas production. This paper presents an overview of the current situation regarding energy generation from the agricultural sector in the State, an assessment of the potentialities of energy generation from sugar cane residues and pig agricultural chains, as well as an analysis of the socioeconomic factors underlying the availability of feedstock for biodiesel production. This study has shown that it is possible to expand the energy supply in the State using residual biomass from the sugar cane and pig production. On the other side, the biodiesel production increase in the State will depend on the expansion in the consumption of products that use the cake as raw material; the increase in the feedstock availability other than canola, castor beans and sunflower; the increase of the number of family farmers as feedstock providers, so as to ensure access for biodiesel producers to the Social Fuel Stamp.

This paper evaluates environmental policy effects on ligno-cellulosic biomass production and environmental outcomes using an integrated bioeconomic optimization model. The environmental policy integrated climate (EPIC) model is used to simulate crop yields and environmental indicators in current and future potential bioenergy cropping systems based on weather, topographic and soil data. The crop yield and environmental outcome parameters from EPIC are combined with biomass transport costs and economic parameters in a representative farmer profit-maximizing mathematical optimization model. The model is used to predict the impact of alternative policies on biomass production and environmental outcomes. We find that without environmental policy, rising biomass prices initially trigger production of annual crop residues, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and nutrient losses to surface and ground water. At higher biomass prices, perennial bioenergy crops replace annual crop residues as biomass sources, resulting in lower environmental impacts. Simulations of three environmental policies namely a carbon price, a no-till area subsidy, and a fertilizer tax reveal that only the carbon price policy systematically mitigates environmental impacts. The fertilizer tax is ineffectual and too costly to farmers. The no-till subsidy is effective only at low biomass prices and is too costly to government.

Biochar is a carbon- and energy-rich porous material produced through slow pyrolysis of biomass, which has been proposed as a way of storing carbon in soils for the long-term (centurial to millennial timescales) but its production incurs an energy penalty. Gasification of rice husks at paddy mills combines the benefits of reasonably efficient delivery of energy with a reasonably high carbon char and ash mixture. The ca. 35% carbon content of the rice husk char is possibly a consequence of the protective shield of silica, preventing full exposure of the biomass to oxidation in the gasifier. In this paper we undertake an evaluation of the sustainability of this 'gasification-biochar system' (GBS) in Cambodia, where a rapid deployment of gasifiers is underway. In Part I, we describe the context and analyse (some of) the physical and chemical properties of the biochar. While there are some potential health, safety and environmental issues that require further analysis, they are problems that could be readily addressed in further research and appear to be resolvable. In Part II, we present results from field trials, summarise the data on the carbon abatement of the gasification-biochar system and present some preliminary economic data.

There is a great interest in synthetic fuels produced from gasified biomass. These are expected to substitute for oil, complementing first generation biofuels. While the long-term substitution potential is uncertain, it may amount to a quarter of current fuel consumption in the EU. Various design approaches for gasifying biomass have been under development for decades but the current EU focus is on nine smaller scale demonstration plants, involving three technological trajectories. The purpose of this paper is to identify policy challenges and discuss options for moving to a larger scale diffusion of gasified biomass in the EU. Such a move requires that technical and market uncertainties are handled by policy. Substantial demonstration and other risk absorption schemes will have to be developed to shift technical risks to society at large. Market uncertainties need to be reduced by a regulatory framework that ensures that markets are formed. A range of instruments for forming markets is assessed. It is argued that in order for the policy to be effective, markets for all three trajectories should be created in parallel. This leads us to suggest either dedicated quotas or a feed-in-law. Yet, both these instruments have drawbacks and a ‘bridging policy’ is probably necessary.

The health and climate impacts of available household cooking options in developing countries vary sharply. Here, we analyze and compare these impacts (health; climate) and the potential co-benefits from the use of fuel and stove combinations. Our results indicate that health and climate impacts span 2 orders of magnitude among the technologies considered. Indoor air pollution is heavily impacted by combustion performance and ventilation; climate impacts are influenced by combustion performance and fuel properties including biomass renewability. Emission components not included in current carbon trading schemes, such as black carbon particles and carbon monoxide, can contribute a large proportion of the total climate impact. Multiple ‘improved’ stove options analyzed in this paper yield roughly equivalent climate benefits but have different impacts on indoor air pollution. Improvements to biomass stoves can improve indoor air quality, which nonetheless remains significantly higher than for stoves that use liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons. LPG- and kerosene-fueled stoves have unrivaled air quality benefits and their climate impacts are also lower than all but the cleanest stoves using renewable biomass. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper assesses the increase in demand and supply for forest biomass for heating in Norway in 2020. By then there is a political aim to double the national production of bioenergy from the level in 2008. The competitiveness of woody biomass in central and district heating is analyzed in a model selecting the least-cost heating technology and scale in municipalities given a set of constraints and under different fuels price scenarios. The supply of forest biomass from roundwood is estimated based on data of forest inventories combined with elasticities regarding price and standing volumes. The supply of biomass from harvesting residues is estimated in an engineering approach based on data from the national forest inventories and roundwood harvest. The results show how the production of bioenergy is affected by changes in energy prices and support schemes for bioenergy. One conclusion from the analyses is that the government target of 14 TWh more bioenergy by 2020 is not likely to be met by current technologies and policy incentives. The contribution of the analysis is the detailed presentation of the heat market potentials and technology choices combined with supply functions for both roundwood and harvesting residues.

The paper investigates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change associated with the introduction of large-scale Jatropha curcas cultivation on Miombo Woodland, using data from extant forestry and ecology studies about this ecosystem. Its results support the notion that Jatropha can help sequester atmospheric carbon when grown on complete wastelands and in severely degraded conditions. Conversely, when introduced on tropical woodlands with substantial biomass and medium/high organic soil carbon content, Jatropha will induce significant emissions that offset any GHG savings from the rest of the biofuel production chain. A carbon debt of more than 30 years is projected. On semi-degraded Miombo the overall GHG balance of Jatropha is found to hinge a lot on the extent of carbon depletion of the soil, more than on the state of the biomass. This finding points to the urgent need for detailed measurements of soil carbon in a range of Miombo sub-regions and similar tropical dryland ecosystems in Asia and Latin America. Efforts should be made to clarify concepts such as ‘degraded lands’ and ‘wastelands’ and to refine land allocation criteria and official GHG calculation methodologies for biofuels on that basis.

This paper describes how management and information failures can retard transitions from the traditional use of biomass fuel by low income rural consumers and micro-producers. In general, societies ...

International audience; High crude oil prices, uncertainties about the consequences of climate change and the eventual decline of conventional oil production raise the prospects of alternative fuels, such as biofuels. This paper describes a simple probabilistic model of the costs of energy crops, drawing on the user's degree of belief about a series of parameters as an input. This forward-looking analysis quantifies the effects of production constraints and experience on the costs of corn and sugar cane, which can then be converted to bioethanol. Land is a limited and heterogeneous resource: the crop cost model builds on the marginal land suitability, which is assumed to decrease as more land is taken into production, driving down the marginal crop yield. Also, the maximum achievable yield is increased over time by technological change, while the yield gap between the actual yield and the maximum yield decreases through improved management practices. The results show large uncertainties in the future costs of producing corn and sugar cane, with a 90% confidence interval of 2.9-7.2$/GJ in 2030 for marginal corn costs, and 1.5-2.5$/GJ in 2030 for marginal sugar cane costs. The influence of each parameter on these supply costs is examined.

Gasified biomass is a technology that has the potential to partially replace fossil fuels for the production of heat, electricity, transport fuels, synthetic natural gas (BioSNG) and chemicals. In the context of climate change, biomass gasification is an attractive technology. It is, however, still in the early phase of its diffusion and much of the knowledge resides in the academic sector and in small companies-the technological innovation system (TIS) is in the process of being formed. Austria is one of the leading European countries in this field and much of the development in Austria can be traced to one prominent individual, Professor Hermann Hofbauer at the Technical University of Vienna. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how and the extent to which an individual academic, Professor Hofbauer, has influenced the formation of a TIS centred on gasified biomass in Austria. We find that his impact is multidimensional and significant but that there is also a frictional and intentional resistance that obstructs the commercialisation of the new technology. These sources of resistance go beyond the ability of an individual system builder to handle. Policy makers, therefore, need to add a strong element of system building activities that interact with and supplement those pursued by Professor Hofbauer.

With biomass staying high in the EU political agenda and most of the recent documents acknowledging that it has the potential to make a very significant contribution to reaching the 20% target [ COM(2008)19, 2008 , COM(2006)848, 2007 ], the issue of supply in terms of feedstock types, availability constraints and costs in different Member States is set to determine the future technology uptake and market deployment prospects. This paper is based on one of the initial studies, ‘Bioenergy's role in the EU market. A view of developments until 2020’, and presents a structured review for EU biomass resources, aiming to map technical potentials and provide detailed information on availability, costs and future trends for biomass potentials of different residual feedsctocks in EU27.

The use of algae to capture carbon dioxide as a method for greenhouse gas mitigation is discussed. A small fraction of the sunlight energy that bathes Earth is captured by photosynthesis and drives most living systems. Life on Earth is carbon-based and the energy is used to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide into biological material (biomass), indeed fossil fuels that we consume today are a legacy of mostly algal photosynthesis. Algae can be thought of as marine and freshwater plants that have higher photosynthetic efficiencies than terrestrial plants and are more efficient capturing carbon (Box 1). They have other favourable characteristics for this purpose. In the context of New Zealand energy strategy and policy I discuss progress in growing algae and seaweeds with emphasis on their application for exhaust flue carbon recycling for possible generation of useful biomass. I also introduce schemes utilising wild oceanic algae for carbon dioxide sequestration and the merits and possible adverse effects of using this approach. This paper is designed as an approachable review of the science and technology for policy makers and a summary of the New Zealand policy environment for those wishing to deploy biological carbon sequestration.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of installing gasification-based energy plants in the New Zealand wood processing industry. The study compared energy plants supplying the thermal and electrical energy in sawmills, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) plants and medium density fibreboard (MDF) mills. The breakeven electricity price for the MDF and LVL scenarios ranged from 4–8.9 c/kWh while the sawmill scenario was 11.6 c/kWh. The conclusion of the study is that while the economics are comparable with other renewable energy generation methods such as hydro and wind the location of the plant is critical to overall feasibility due mainly to biomass availability and power price both now and in light of expected future trends. The technology is complementary to the government's forward strategy which encourages both distributed generation and renewable energy.

Energy plays a vital role in socio-economic development and raising standards of human beings. Turkey is a rapidly growing country; both its population and economy are expanding each year so its energy demand increases correspondingly and this increasing demand has to be met for keeping sustainable development in the economy and raising living conditions of mankind. Although Turkey has many energy sources, it is a big energy importer. Turkey has a lot of potential to supply its own energy, which could be put to use in order to avoid this energy dependence. Additionally, Turkey is a country that has an abundance of renewable energy sources and can essentially provide all energy requirements from indigenous energy sources. Biomass is one of the most promising energy sources considered to be alternative to conventional ones. This paper investigates the importance of biomass energy in Turkey. Additionally, the potential of biomass and its utilization in Turkey are presented in detail. Turkey has always been one of the major agricultural countries of the world. The importance of agriculture is increasing due to biomass energy being a major resource of Turkey. Like many developing countries, Turkey relies on biomass to satisfy much of its energy requirements. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper assesses economic feasibility of utilizing community-managed degraded forest areas for raising energy crops and using the produced biomass for electricity production in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India through gasification technology. Three fast-growing species, three gasifiers of different capacities, three capital costs, and two scenarios of carbon payments were considered for analysis. Sensitivity and risk analyses were undertaken for determining the effects of variations in inputs on selected outputs. Results suggest that 5 million megawatt hour electricity can be generated annually which will prevent 4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The production cost of a unit of electricity was found inversely related to the scale of production. The average cost of electricity at the consumer level produced using 100 kW gasifier was $0.15/kWh, which was greater than the price of electricity supplied from grid i.e. $0.08/kWh. The unit cost of producing electricity using Acacia nilotica was lowest among all the selected species. Technological advancements suitable government incentives are needed to promote electricity generation from forest biomass through gasification technology. This will help in spurring economic development and reducing overall ecological footprint of the state.

Liquid fuels can be made by refining a range of biomass materials, including oil-rich and sugar-rich crops such as oil-seed rape and sugar beet, biomass that consists mainly of plant cell walls (second generation lignocellulosics), macro- and micro-alga, or material that would now be discarded as waste. This can include animal bi-products as well as waste wood and other resources. In the medium-term, plant cell (lignocellulosic) material is likely to be favoured as the feedstock for biorefineries because of its availability. The UK may make use of a number of these options because of its complex agricultural landscape. There are now a range of targets for biofuel use in the UK, although their environmental effects are disputed. The technology of refining these materials is well known. Possible outputs include biodiesel and bioethanol, both of which can be used as transport fuel. Other potential products include hydrogen, polymers and a wide range of value-added chemicals, making this technology important in a post-petrochemical world. Biorefineries could use cogeneration to produce electricity. The paper identifies a range of research and development priorities which must be met if this opportunity is to be exploited fully.

This paper presents the results of a model of hydrogen production from waste biomass in California. We develop a profit-maximizing model of a biomass hydrogen industry from field to vehicle tank. This model is used to estimate the economic potential for hydrogen production from two waste biomass resources in Northern California—wheat straw and rice straw—taking into account the on the ground geographic dimensions of both biomass supply and hydrogen demand. The systems analysis approach allows for explicit consideration of the interactions between feedstock collection, hydrogen production, and hydrogen distribution in finding the optimal system design. This case study approach provides insight into both the real-world potential and the real-world cost of producing hydrogen from waste biomass. Additional context is provided through the estimation of California's total waste biomass hydrogen potential. We find that enough biomass is available from waste sources to provide up to 40% of the current California passenger car fuel demand as hydrogen. Optimized supply chains result in delivered hydrogen costing between $3/kg and $5.50/kg with one-tenth of the well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emissions of conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles.

Application of landfill gas (LFG) means a synergy between environmental protection and energy production. This paper presents a review of the status of LFG application. To more efficiently utilize the LFG in Hong Kong, a trigeneration scheme is proposed as a new way of LFG utilization. The feasibility of LFG trigeneration in Hong Kong is evaluated from the views of primary energy-saving and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction as well as economic benefit. The proposed scenario is compared with the conventional scenarios of LFG treatment and utilization. It is shown that LFG for trigeneration has a higher energy saving and GHG emission reduction potentials. The new scheme is also more economical than the conventional way of LFG utilization. Some policy recommendations are also given to promote the biomass energy utilization from waste landfills in Hong Kong.

This paper uses life cycle assessment to evaluate the potential of rice straw power plant implementation in Thailand in terms of GHG emission savings from avoided open burning and from implementing rice straw power production, which can substitute that from natural gas. Annually, 8.5–14.3 Mt rice straw burning contributes 5.0–8.6 MtCO 2 -eq which could be converted to 786–1325 MW of power, yielding a total greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of 7.8–13.2 MtCO 2 -eq. Moreover, 1090–1837 Mm 3 of natural gas could be substituted annually. A total of 25 provinces in central Thailand have potential to generate electricity with a total capacity of 210–292 MW (plant efficiency 20–27%), resulting in an annual GHG emission savings of 2.3–2.6 MtCO 2 -eq, and with a provincial capacity of over 20 MW in 6 provinces, 10–20 MW in 7 provinces, 1–10 MW in 6 provinces and less than 1 MW in 6 provinces.

A number of previous studies on China's carbon emissions have mainly focused on two facts: (1) the continuous growth in emissions up till the middle of the 1990s; (2) the recent stability of emissions from 1996 to 2001. Decomposition analysis has been widely used to explore the driving forces behind these phenomena. However, since 2002, China's carbon emissions have resumed their growth at an even greater rate. This paper investigates China's carbon emissions during 1971–2003, with particular focus on the role of biomass, and the fall and resurgence in emissions since the mid-1990s. We use an extended Kaya identity and the well-established logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI I) method. Carbon emissions are decomposed into effects of various driving forces. We find that (1) a shift from biomass to commercial energy increases carbon emissions by a magnitude comparable to that of the increase in emissions due to population growth, (2) the technological effect and scale effect due to per-capita gross domestic products (GDP) growth are different in the pre-reform period versus the post-reform period, (3) the positive effect of population growth has been decreasing over the entire period, and (4) the fall in emissions in the late 1990s and resurgence in the early 2000s may be overstated due to inaccurate statistics.