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Conference paper2014

Climate Impacts of Bioenergy Produced from Willow Grown in Sweden

Hammar, Torun; Sundberg, Cecilia; Ericsson, Niclas; Hansson, Per-Anders

Abstract

Short rotation coppice willow (SRCW) is a fast-growing and potentially high-yielding energy crop. Replacing fossil fuel with bioenergy has been identified as one strategy to mitigate climate change and decrease the dependency on fossil energy in Sweden. By using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the climate impact of SRCW systems was assessed and compared. The purpose was to evaluate which key factors that influence climate mitigation potential of SRCW grown on historically tilled soils in Sweden. Carbon fluxes between soil, biomass and atmosphere were modelled by using a carbon balance model. The results indicated that SRCW can increase the soil organic carbon content and thereby lead to a climate mitigating effect. The magnitude of this mitigating effect was shown to be dependent on willow yield, where a high yield gave the highest climatic benefits. Opposite, a low yield gave the lowest mitigating effect of the studied scenarios, nevertheless it was still better than the two reference systems, district heating produced from coal or natural gas.

Keywords

willow; life cycle assessment (LCA); CO2 balance; bioenergy; greenhouse gases (GHG)

Published in

Title: Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Publisher: ETA-Florence Renewable Energies

Conference

22nd European International Biomass Conference - Setting the Course for a Biobased Economy, JUN 23-26, 2014, Hamburg, GERMANY

SLU Authors

Global goals (SDG)

SDG13 Climate action

UKÄ Subject classification

Energy Systems
Climate Research

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5071/22ndEUBCE2014-1DO.1.5
  • ISBN: 978-88-89407-52-3

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/63508