Abstract

Background: Cultivation of raw material represents a large proportion of biofuels´ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The EU renewable energy directive 2009/28/EC specifies a GHG emission default value for cultivation of biofuel raw material (23 g CO2e/MJ ethanol for wheat). The aim of this study was to quantify the uncertainty in GHG emissions for wheat cultivation in Sweden, considering uncertainty and variability in data at farm level. Results: Two levels of data collection at farm level were analyzed; simple (only yield and amount of N) and advanced (also including amounts and types of energy). The 2.5-97.5 percentile uncertainty for Swedish winter wheat was 20-27 g CO2e/MJ, which can be considered large in the context of the Directive’s threshold of 23 g with two significant digits. Conclusions: It is concluded that quantifying GHG emissions in order to regulate biofuels is a difficult task and especially emissions from cultivation since these are biological systems with large variability.

Published in

Biofuels
2012, Volume: 3, number: 4, pages: 399-411

SLU Authors

• Ahlgren, Serina

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Röös, Elin

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Sundberg, Cecilia

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hansson, Per-Anders

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4155/bfs.12.33

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/43784