4. Trends in European Wind Turbine Developments

Climate change, environmental degradation, agriculture ecline burdened with heavy socio-economic implications and increasing energy needs for sustainable development and economic growth, have stimulated a frenetic search for acceptable solutions to improve this critical situation. Biomass production and utilization for energy has given rise to many discussions for its environmental impact. This paper presents a point of view that bio-energy could assume sustainable environmental features for our future.

The principal arguments of this paper are: bio-energy system and carbon emission - including confrontation of CO₂, emissions between a biomass electricity closed system and a coal-based electric generation system–soil erosion, fertilizer use, pesticide use, and biodiversity.     

A study of the development of bio-energy resources and the status of eco-society in China

Industrialization of bio-energy relies on the supply of resources on a large scale. The theoretical biomass resources could reach 2.61–3.51 billion tce (tons of coal equivalent)/a in China, while the available feedstock is about 440–640 million tce/a, however, among this only 1.5–2.5% has been transferred into energy at present. Marginal land utilization has great prospects of supplying bio-energy resources in China, with co-benefits, such as carbon sequestration, water/soil conservation, and wind erosion protection. There is a large area of marginal land in China, especially in northern China, including about 263 million ha of desertification land, 173 million ha of sand-land, and 17 million ha of salinizatin land. The plant species suitable to be grown in marginal lands, including some species in Salix, Hippophae, Tamarix, Caragana, and Prunus is also abundant Biomass feedstock in marginal lands would be 100 million tce/a in 2020, and 200 million tce/a in 2050. As a result, a win–win situation of eco-society and bio-energy development could be realized, with an expected 4–5% reduction of total CO₂ emission in China in 2020–2050. Although much progress has been made in the field of bio-energy research in China, yet significant efforts should be taken in the future to fulfill large-scale industrialization of bio-energy.     

Bio-energy in China: Content analysis of news articles on Chinese professional internet platforms

The aim of this study is to discuss how information about the development and use of bio-energy is forwarded and disseminated to general public via the Internet in China. Furthermore, this study also explores in what manner the information of renewable energy policies is presented. A research method used in this study is an application of content analysis. Altogether 19 energy-related web platforms were found by searching keywords, such as “energy net” or “renewable energy net” or “bio-energy net” on www.Google.cn. A thorough analysis was conducted by focusing on one of them: www.china5e.com. The news articles on www.china5e.com were examined according to whether the use of bio-energy was articulated positively or negatively in the contents of articles. It was also considered whether the articles were imported from abroad. The results of this study indicated that in China there is a tendency on the Internet to disseminate primarily the positive information about bio-energy with a great emphasis on its benefits. In addition, the study shows that when analyzing the content of the news articles, biogas and liquid bio-fuels will be the main bio-energy development trends in China in the near future.     

The scientometric evaluation of the research on the algae and bio-energy

The present study explores the characteristics of the literature on the algae and bio-energy published during the last three decades, based on the database of Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and its implications using the scientometric techniques. The results of this work reveal that the literature on the algae and bio-energy has grown exponentially during this period reaching 717 papers in total. Most of document type is in the form of journal articles, reviews, and proceedings, constituting 98% of the total literature and English is the predominant language (97.6%). USA, China, Germany, and England are the four biggest contributing countries on the algae and bio-energy literature publishing, 26%, 8%, 8%, and 8% of the sample, respectively. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the largest institutional contributor publishing 2.6% of the papers. The most publishing four authors are Wilhelm (13 papers) followed by Wu (15 papers), Mimuro (10 papers), and Zhao (9 papers). “Bioresource Technology” is the most publishing journal with 24 published papers, followed by “Journal of Applied Phycology” (17 papers), and “Biotechnology and Bioengineering” (15 papers). “Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology” is the subject area with 24.3% of the sample published. This is followed by “Energy & Fuels” (16.3%), “Marine & Freshwater Biology” (14.2%), and “Environmental Sciences” (12.3%). The total number of citations is 11,079, giving a ratio for the “Average Citations per Item” as 15.45 and “H-index” as 52. A list of most-cited 25 authors is produced and Chisti (2007) receives 320 citations with 80 total average citations per year. This paper is followed by Lewis and Nocera (2006; 296 citations), Demirbas (2001; 187 citations). Chisti (2007) has the highest impact on the literature on the algae and energy with total average citations per year of 80. This is followed by Lewis and Nocera (2006, 59.8 annual citations) and Chisti (2008, 41 annual citations). An analysis of the citing papers shows the impact of the research on the algae and bio-energy for the related academic disciplines. This provides further incentives for all the stakeholders of the research on the algae and energy, but especially for the researchers and their institutions and their countries to do more research in this area. The results of this first ever such study of its kind show that the scientometric analysis has a great potential to gain valuable insights into the evolution of the research the on algae and bio-energy as in the case of new emerging technologies and processes such as nanoscience and nanotechnology complementing literature reviews, content analysis and metaanalysis research techniques.     

Governance of the emerging bio-energy markets

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities. By assessing the governance system of global coffee trade, fair trade coffee, the global and the EU sugar market and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned. FSC is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal's basis. FSC's weaknesses are minimized by, among others, using the lessons learned from the other case studies. This results in a system consisting of two pillars, a bio-energy labelling organization (BLO) and a United Nations Agreement on Bio-energy (UNAB). Although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio-energy should meet in order to be effective, such as a facilitative government, professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums. These conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal.     

Bio-energy and youth: Analyzing the role of school,home, and media from the future policy perspectives

The study investigated the relationships between students’ perceived information on bio-energy from school, home and media and their perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge regarding bio-energy. The study also analyzed the scope of future policies to raise awareness among young students about bio-energy. Data drawn from 495 Finnish students studying in ninth grade revealed that the students were more positive in their attitudes towards bio-energy compared to their perceptions of it. They were very positive about learning about bio-energy, while not so eager towards its utilization. It appeared that school, home, and media all had statistically significant effects on students’ perceptions, attitudes, and level of knowledge related to bio-energy. Three principal components emerged from students’ perceptions and attitudes towards bio-energy viz. ‘motivation’ revealing students’ eagerness to know more about bio-energy; ‘considering sustainability’ revealing their criticality of forest bio-energy; and ‘utilization’ revealing their state of interests to use bio-energy. Bio-energy policies to be effective must consider the role of school, home, and media as important means to engage young students in bio-energy related discussions. It is also desirable to establish interactions between energy and educational policies to integrate the modern renewable energy concepts in the school curriculum.     

Reed canary grass biomass yield and energy use efficiency in Northern European pedoclimatic conditions

Reed canary grass is a potential bio-energy crop in Northern Europe. As plantation biomass production depends on local pedoclimatic conditions, it is important to evaluate yield in the context of soil-specific characteristics. The current study used regression models to evaluate reed canary grass yield variability in the context of soil nitrogen (N) content and in applied mineral N fertilisers. Reed canary grass bio-energy potential was evaluated in a soil-specific manner to calculate the production and energy use efficiency. Soils with low N content produce yields of almost 1 Mg ha⁻¹ in years with unsuitable weather conditions for plant growth. The average dry matter yield of 6-7 Mg ha⁻¹ is achievable within limited years on soils with N contents of more than 0.6%. Fertilisation increases the yield and decreases yield variability in humus-poor soils, but on soils with high N content, production risks increase with increasing N fertiliser applications. Energy use efficiency decreases with increasing input on Histosols; increasing the input from 6 to 31 GJ ha⁻¹ results in energy use efficiency decreasing from 9 to 2 GJ GJ⁻¹. As a consequence of energy use efficiency, a diminishing return occurs on Haplic Albeluvisol, as optimum efficiency peaks at 5.2 GJ GJ⁻¹ using 198 kg N ha⁻¹. The current study integrated the developed models in the soil Geographic Information System and calculated the energy use efficiency of selected areas. This approach enables researchers to evaluate production risks in the region and provides a framework for knowledge-based bio-energy production.     

Multicriteria analysis to evaluate the energetic reuse of riparian vegetation

The management of riparian vegetation which includes cutting operations of grass, reeds, bushes and trees, is very important to reduce hydrogeologic risk.In Tuscany, riparian biomass and residues are mainly left shredded along courses or disposed in landfills as special wastes: actually different laws prohibit that tree trunks are abandoned in areas naturally affected by flooding, because they can be moved contributing to increase the water level and to maximize the hydraulic risk of some other nearby areas. In some cases, it is also possible to store the logs in specified sites from where they can be taken and used as a fuel in fireplaces or domestic heating plants.This work studies the possibility of the reuse of riparian vegetation as biomass for energy production and evaluates benefits and drawbacks from the economical, environmental and managerial points of view. Particularly, a specific methodology has been developed for two hydrological districts of Tuscany, with different typologies and densities of vegetation. First, an estimation of biomass distribution on the land and an evaluation of annual wood availability have been carried out; then, different chains concerning harvesting operation, biomass transport, storage conditions and final utilisation, have been defined and compared by a specific multicriteria analysis (MCA); finally, for the most suitable bio-energy chains the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been implemented. Results of the LCA have also permitted to validate some environmental indicators used in the MCA, as mechanisation level of yards, energy efficiency of plants or transport distances.The decision making tool developed allows to compare costs and environmental benefits of the energy use of riparian vegetation, supporting local authorities involved in energy planning: in this way it is possible to confront different alternatives to match the energy demand and meet the energy saving and sustainability issues at the lowest cost for the community.In conclusion, the most interesting bio-energy chains, based on technology of direct combustion, are those that require a limited forestry mechanisation, the short transport distances and the medium sized plants. The LCA applied to these most suitable chains has also shown significant environmental benefits to promote the energetic use of riparian biomass instead of fossil fuels.     

Chinese university students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding forest bio-energy

The present study examines Chinese university students’ attitudes and knowledge regarding energy, specifically towards forest bio-energy in their country. The study was based on opinions of students from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in China and it was conducted using a questionnaire completed by 441 students. The students’ attitudes are seen as highly relevant because they are considered as both potential consumers and possible experts in the field of bio-energy. Their activities influence how the future energy markets will likely develop. The results revealed various interesting facets of the students’ views regarding energy usage. Of particular interest is the students’ positive attitude towards renewable energy in general, but slightly less positive towards forest bio-energy. However, the respondents expected to receive more information and knowledge about renewable energy and forest bio-energy. Moreover, it can be concluded that the dissemination of knowledge through different sources (e.g. teaching in school, information available on the Internet and other media channels) is an increasingly important aspect regarding energy issues. The results of this study can provide information of the perceptions of young educated people on energy policy issues and thus serve political decision-making processes for the future options concerning the development of forest bio-energy in China. Finally, the outcome of this study indicates that further environmental and energy education in China is urgently needed.     

对中国石油在巴西发展生物能源的思考

本文通过对巴西生物能源市场现状进行分析和机会筛选,对标国际石油公司在巴西开展生物能源的成绩和进展,利用奥利模型分析了中国石油投资巴西生物能源市场的投资优势,提出开展生物能源和常规能源一体化方案评估、建立生物能源合资公司、发挥中国石油一体化优势及做好本地化经营等相关建议。     

Biofuel cell nanodevices

Looking at the past decades, intense efforts have been made on one of the flourishing technology called biofuel cells with respect to the power or energy crisis prevailing all over the globe. Global researchers are taking part in the development of biofuels cells by exploiting novel characteristics of unconventional materials at atomic and molecule level like nanotubes (carbon nanotubes), nanosheets, nanoparticles, conducting polymers, etc in order to generate effective electricity from the substrates of biological origin via utilizing various biocatalysts. With the advancement in the field of nanotechnology, significant discoveries with respect to the field of biofuel cells have been accomplished. But till date, there has been a significant challenge regarding the performance and efficiency of the biofuels cells. Nowadays, to generate high power, an efficient and skillful approach which consists of the implementation of nano-based materials and conducting polymers with respect to the assembly of the biofuel cells is being considered by many researchers. Bioenergy and biofuels is a potential contestant for alternative fuel and with regard to this nanotechnology is one such significant weapon to synthesize and modify the production of biofuel and bio-energy. It has been assumed that in the near future with such extensive research biofuel cells will take up the economy of a nation in a sustainable way. This review gives the insights of biofuel cells and their types, brief synopsis of applications of the biofuel cells along with the scrutiny of biofuel cells in the market. Significant discussions have been provided in this review relating to the nanomaterials being employed as an electrode in biofuel cells. Certain examples have been mentioned to justify the concept of biofuel cell nanodevices following the ethical considerations of the same.     

Bioenergy in the United States: progress and possibilities

Concerns about global climate change and air quality have increased interest in biomass and other energy sources that are potentially CO₂-neutral and less polluting. Large-scale bioenergy development could indeed bring significant ecological benefits — or equally significant damage — depending on the specific paths taken. In particular, the land requirements for biomass production are potentially immense.

Various entities in the United States have performed research; prepared cost–supply assessments, environmental impact assessments, life cycle analyses and externality impact assessments; and engaged in demonstration and development regarding biomass crops and other potential biomass energy feedstocks. These efforts have focused on various biomass wastes, forest management issues, and biomass crops, including both perennial herbaceous crops and fast-growing woody crops. Simultaneously, several regional and national groups of bioenergy stakeholders have issued consensus recommendations and guidelines for sustainable bioenergy development.

It is a consistent conclusion from these efforts that displacing annual agricultural crops with native perennial biomass crops could — in addition to reducing fossil fuel use and ameliorating associated ecological problems — also help restore natural ecosystem functions in worked landscapes, and thereby preserve natural biodiversity.

Conversely, if forests are managed and harvested more intensively — and/or if biomass crops displace more natural land cover such as forests and wetlands — it is likely that ecosystem functions would be impaired and biodiversity lost.     

Leading global energy and environmental transformation: Unified ASEAN biomass-based bio-energy system incorporating the clean development mechanism

In recent years, the ten member countries in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) have experienced high economic growth and, in tandem, a substantial increment in energy usage and demand. Consequently, they are now under intense pressure to secure reliable energy supplies to keep up with their growth rate. Fossil fuels remain the primary source of energy for the ASEAN countries, due to economic and physical considerations. This situation has led to unrestrained emissions of greenhouse gases to the environment and thus effectively contributes to global climate change. The abundant supply of biomass from their tropical environmental conditions offers great potential for ASEAN countries to achieve self-reliance in energy supplies. This fact can simultaneously transform into the main driving force behind combating global climate change, which is associated with the usage of fossil fuels. This research article explores the potential and advantages for ASEAN investment in biomass-based bio-energy supply, processing and distribution network with an emphasis on regional collaborations. It also investigates the implementation and operational challenges in terms of political, economic and technical factors for the cross-border energy scheme. Reliance of ASEAN countries on the clean development mechanism (CDM) to address most of the impediments in developing the project is also under scrutiny. Unified co-operation among ASEAN countries in integrating biomass-based bio-energy systems and utilising the clean development mechanism (CDM) as the common effort could serve as the prime example for regional partnerships in achieving sustainable development for the energy and environmental sector in the future.     

Siting analysis of farm-based centralized anaerobic digester systems for distributed generation using GIS

There is growing interest in installing anaerobic digesters (ADs) on farms to use animal wastes as a biomass resource for both economic value and environmental benefit. This potential expansion prompts the need for land suitability assessment. In this paper, a GIS model is proposed for land-suitability assessment of potential energy systems featuring an AD coupled with an energy generator. A variety of environmental and social constraints, as well as economic factors are integrated in the model to help determine the optimal sites for installing such systems. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is employed to estimate the factors’ weights in order to establish their relative importance in site selection. The model is then applied to Tompkins County, New York as a case study for demonstration. A siting suitability map was produced to identify those areas that are most suitable for distributed bio-energy systems using dairy manure. The results showed that this GIS-based model, by integrating both spatial data and non-spatial information, was capable of providing a broad-scale and multidimensional view on the potential bio-energy systems development in the area of study to account for environmental and social constraints as well as economic factors. The model can be modified for evaluating other biomass resources.     

Assessing on-farm productivity of Miscanthus crops by combining soil mapping,yield modelling and remote sensing

Biomass from agricultural land is a key component of any sustainable bioenergy strategy, and 2^nd generation, ligno-cellulosic feedstocks are part of the UK government policy to meet the target of reduced CO₂ emission. Pre-harvest estimates of the biomass supply potential are usually based on experimental evidence and little is known about the yield gap between biologically obtainable and actual achievable on-farm biomass yields. We propose a systematic integration of mapped information fit for estimating obtainable yields using an empirical model, observed on-farm yields and remote sensing. Thereby, one can identify the sources of yield variation and supply uncertainty. Spatially explicit Miscanthus potential yields are compared with delivered on-farm yields from established crops ≥5 years after planting, surveyed among participants in the Energy Crop Scheme. Actual on-farm yield averaged at 8.94 Mg ha⁻¹ and it varied greatly (coefficient of variation 34%), largely irrespective of soil type. The average yield gap on clay soils was much larger than that on sandy or loamy soils (37% vs 10%). Miscanthus is noticeably slower to establish on clay soils as shown by fitting a logistic Gompertz equation to yield time series. However, gaps in crop cover as identified by density counts, visual inspection (Google Earth) and remote sensing (Landsat-5) correlated with observed on-farm yields suggesting patchiness as causal for reduced yields. The analysis shows ways to improve the agronomy for these new crops to increase economic returns within the supply chain and the environmental benefits (reduced GHG emission, greater carbon sequestration) and reduce the land demand of bio-energy production.     

Energy crops and pesticide contamination: Lessons learnt from the development of energy crop cultivation in Germany

Biomass provides two thirds of the total energy produced from renewables in Europe. The share of bioenergy from energy crops is growing rapidly. Given the environmental pressures arising from pesticide pollution from current agricultural food production, a substantial increase in energy crop cultivation might put additional pressure on biodiversity and soil and water resources. In the present study, we examine the potential of energy crops for pesticide contamination and develop general conclusions and recommendations for the future large-scale expansion of agricultural bioenergy. We base our analysis on the development of energy crop cultivation in Germany, the European country with the largest share of energy crops. Our findings reveal that there will not necessarily be an increase or decrease in the amounts of pesticides released into the environment. Due to the great variety of energy crops, the potential effects will depend rather on the future design of the agricultural systems. Possible risks are associated with the increased cultivation of pesticide-intensive energy crops, such as rapeseed, especially when grown in monocultures or on formerly set-aside land or converted grassland. Instead, energy crops should be integrated into the existing food production systems. Financial incentives and further education are needed to encourage the use of sustainable crop rotations, innovative cropping systems and perennial energy crops, which may add to crop diversity and generate lower pesticide demands than intensive food farming systems. Optimised cultivation systems with diverse crop rotations could help to improve monotonous agricultural landscapes, increase biodiversity and minimise pesticide exposure.     

Brazil's current and future land balances: Is there residual land for bioenergy production?

This study presents a new database of land use categories in Brazil at a spatial resolution of 30 arc-second (about 1 km²). The spatial representation of current major land uses formally combines agricultural statistics from Brazil's latest census of the year 2006 at micro-region level and the Food and Agriculture Organization 2010 forest statistics with spatial land cover data sets. Spatial allocation (“downscaling”) algorithms were applied to obtain a spatial distribution of seven major land use categories. Remaining shares in each grid-cell were termed residual land, and were categorized according to legal protection status, biodiversity value, and whether they belong to the territory of the Amazon biome. We found a total of 84 Mha residual land of which 37 Mha occurred outside the territory of the Amazon biome and was neither legally protected nor categorized as highly biodiverse land. The 37 Mha “available residual land” equates to 4.4% of Brazil's geographical area and to 50% of its current cultivated land area. We assessed land quality using the Agro-ecological Zones modelling framework provides land suitability and productivity estimates of the available residual land. Nearly one-third of land emerged of prime quality and is therefore promising for biofuel feedstock production. Analysis of potential food-fuel competition suggests that until 2030 productivity improvements on current pastures could accommodate land demand for Brazil's increasing cattle herd and expanding croplands. If these productivity increases could be achieved on current agricultural land, residual land could provide areas for the sustainable expansion of biofuel feedstock production.     

Forecasting forest chip energy production in Finland 2008-2014

Energy policy measures aim to increase energy production from forest chips in Finland to 10 TWh by year 2010. However, on the regional level production differences are large, and the regional estimates of the potential base of raw materials for the production of forest chips are heterogeneous. In order to analyse the validity of the above target, two methods are proposed to derive forecasts for region-level energy production from forest chips in Finland in the years 2008-2014. The plant-level data from 2003-2007 gives a starting point for a detailed statistical analysis of present and future region-level forest chip production. Observed 2008 regional levels are above the estimated prediction 95% confidence intervals based on aggregation of plant-level time averages. A simple time trend model with fixed-region effects provides accurate forecasts for the years 2008-2014. Forest chip production forecast confidence intervals cover almost all regions for the 2008 levels and the estimates of potential production levels for 2014. The forecast confidence intervals are also derived with re-sampling methods, i.e. with bootstrap methods, to obtain more reliable results. Results confirm that a general materials shortfall is not expected in the near future for forest chip energy production in Finland.     

Indirect fuel use change (IFUC) and the lifecycle environmental impact of biofuel policies

A common assumption in lifecycle assessment (LCA) based estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits (or costs) of renewable fuel such as biofuel is that it simply replaces an energy-equivalent amount of fossil fuel and that total fuel consumption remains unchanged. However, the adoption of renewable fuels will affect the price of fuel and therefore affect total fuel consumption which, may increase or decrease depending on the policy regime and market conditions. Using a representative two-region model of the global oil market in which, one region implements a domestic biofuel mandate and the other does not, we show that the net change in global fuel consumption due to the policy, which we term indirect fuel use change (IFUC), can have a significant impact on the net GHG emissions associated with biofuel. If LCA-based regulations are designed to account for indirect emissions such as indirect land use change, then we argue that IFUC emissions cannot be ignored. Our work also shows how different policies can affect the environmental impact from adopting a given clean technology differently.     

Is energy cropping in Europe compatible with biodiversity? – Opportunities and threats to biodiversity from land-based production of biomass for bioenergy purposes

Based on literature and six country studies (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Slovakia) this paper discusses the compatibility of the EU 2020 targets for renewable energy with conservation of biodiversity.We conclude that increased demand for biomass for bioenergy purposes may lead to a continued conversion of valuable habitats into productive lands and to intensification, which both have negative effects on biodiversity. On the other hand, increased demand for biomass also provides opportunities for biodiversity, both within existing productive lands and in abandoned or degraded lands. Perennial crops may lead to increased diversity in crop patterns, lower input uses, and higher landscape structural diversity which may all have positive effects on biodiversity.In production forest opportunities exist to harvest primary wood residues. Removal of these forest residues under strict sustainability conditions may become economically attractive with increased biomass demand.An additional biomass potential is represented by recreation areas, road-side verges, semi-natural and natural areas and lands which have no other use because they have been abandoned, polluted or degraded.Whether effects of cropping of biomass and/or removal of biomass has positive or negative impact on biodiversity depends strongly on specific regional circumstances, the type of land and land use shifts involved and the associated management practices in general. However, it is clear that in the six countries studied certain types of biomass crops are likely to be more sustainable than others.