Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Bioenergy policy'

A central principle within UN and EU policy is environmental policyintegration (EPI), aiming at integrating environmental aspirations, targetsand requirements into sector policy in order to promote sustainabledevelopment. The focus of this study is EPI in bioenergy policy. Bioenergy isa renewable energy source of increasing importance in the EU and Swedishenergy mix. At the same time, it is debated how environmentally friendlybioenergy really is. Furthermore, bioenergy can be considered both a multisectorand a multi-level case, since bioenergy is produced in many differentsectors and bioenergy policy is formulated and implemented on differentlevels. Therefore, EPI in bioenergy policy is here analysed over time in twosectors (energy and agriculture) and on three levels (EU, national, subnational).A cognitive, policy learning perspective on EPI is adopted, tracingEPI through looking for reframing of policy towards incorporatingenvironmental objectives in policy rhetoric and practice. Furthermore,institutional and political explanations for the development are discussed.Paper I analyses EPI in Swedish bioenergy policy within energy andagriculture. Paper II analyses institutional conditions for multi-sector EPI inSwedish bioenergy policy. Paper III analyses EPI in EU bioenergy policywithin energy and agriculture. Paper IV analyses sub-national EPI in thecase of the Biofuel Region in north Sweden. The material examined consistsof policy documents complemented by semi-structured interviews. Together, the four papers provide a more complex and holistic picture ofthe EPI process than in previous research, which mainly has focused onstudying EPI in single sectors and on single levels. The study shows thatpriorities are different on different levels; that EPI has varied over time; butthat EPI today is detectable within bioenergy policy in both studied sectorsand on all levels. Policy learning in bioenergy is found to be mainly a topdownprocess. Furthermore, policy coherence between sectors and levels;long-term goals; and concrete policy instruments are found to be importantboth for the EPI process as such and for the outcomes from this process.However, when attempting to marry different goals, such as growth, securityand sustainability, in line with the three-tiered (economic, social, ecologic)sustainable development concept, environmental aspects risks not to beprioritised when goal conflicts arise. The study proposes that future researchboth continues the analysis of multi-sector and multi-level EPI, and furtherexplores to what extent ecological sustainability is improved by EPI.

Interest in using woody biomass from forestlands for energy production has reemerged in recent years. In Kentucky, bioenergy has great potential to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels. However, questions still remain about economic and other social effects associated with forest-based bioenergy production. This study investigates some of the economic implications of harvesting woody biomass for bioenergy production alongside traditional forest products in Kentucky. Results show that forest-based bioenergy can increase financial return to nonindustrial private forest owners. This study also investigates social impacts and drivers of forest-based bioenergy in Kentucky. Results indicate that a variety of issues will have to be dealt with in order for bioenergy production from forestlands to be viable in Kentucky.

Burning wood from the province’s forests to produce energy is a growing industry in British Columbia and a fundamental part of the Liberal government’s energy and forest plans. In 2007, the province set new environmental targets and developed new energy policy that highlighted the need for bioenergy in the province. As a result, the 2008 BC Bioenergy Strategy mandated a two part “Bioenergy Call for Power” by BC Hydro, ten new community biomass based energy projects and a $25 million investment into the new Bioenergy Network. As with any topic, the news media can affect its audience’s perspectives and attitudes towards an issue. This study explored the possibility that the news media has been framing wood bioenergy as a solution to the mountain pine beetle epidemic and as a carbon-neutral energy. A keyword search was done to collect articles from The Vancouver Sun, the largest provincial daily newspaper in British Columbia, starting in 2001, when the Liberal government took power in the province. A content analysis was performed on the articles to assess the themes and information conveyed about bioenergy. The study found that prior to 2007, the articles were less likely to suggest bioenergy could make use of mountain pine beetle-killed trees and were less likely to describe it as a carbon-neutral and renewable energy source. The change since 2007 indicates that the issue is being framed as a solution to the province’s problems in the forest and energy industries.

Abstract In Paper [I], I develop the FOR-DICE model to analyze optimal global forest carbon management. The FOR-DICE is a simple framework for assessing the role of the boreal, tropical, and temperate forests as both a source of renewable energy and a resource to sequester and store carbon. I find that forests play an important role in reducing global emissions, especially under ambitious climate targets. At the global level, efforts should focus on increasing the stock of forest biomass rather than increasing the use of the forest for bioenergy production. The results also highlight the important role of reducing tropical deforestation to reduce climate change. In Paper [II], I develop the FRICE to investigate the role of two key efforts to increase the stock of forest biomass, namely, afforestation and avoided deforestation. FRICE is a multi-regional integrated assessment model that captures the dynamics of forest carbon sequestration in a transparent way and allows me to investigate the allocation of these actions across space and time. I find that global climate policy can benefit considerably from afforestation and avoided deforestation in tropical regions, and in particular in Africa. Avoided deforestation is particularly effective in the short run while afforestation provides the largest emissions reductions in the medium run. This paper also highlights the importance of not solely relying on avoided deforestation as its capacity to reduce emissions is more limited than afforestation, especially under more stringent temperature targets. In Paper [III], we investigate how uncertainties linked to the forest affect the optimal climate policy. We incorporate parameter uncertainty on the intrinsic growth rate and climate effects on the forest by using the state-contingent approach. Our results show that forest uncertainty matters. We find that the importance of including forest in climate policy increases when the forest is subject to uncertainty. This occurs because optimal forest response allows us to reduce the costs associated with uncertainty. In Paper [IV], we explore the implications of asymmetries in climate policy arising from not recognizing forest carbon emissions and sequestration in the decision-making process. We show that not fully including carbon values associated with the forest will have large effects on different forest controls and lead to an increase in emissions, higher carbon prices, and lower welfare.  We further find, by investigating the relative importance of forest emissions compared to sequestration, that recognizing forest emissions from bioenergy and deforestation is especially important for climate policy.

Thailand is one of the largest rice producing nations in the world. Moreover, there is a trend for Thai rice exports to increase. This could imply that if the trend continues, there will be an increased quantity of rice husk in the future. Rice husk is a co-product of rice products generated in the rice milling process, accounting for about 23 percent of the total paddy weight. To make use of this large quantity of rice husk, the husk has traditionally been used as an energy source in the rice mills themselves. More recently, the Thai government has promoted the use of biomass to substitute for fossil fuel consumption and to reduce the environmental impacts caused by using fossil fuels. Therefore, rice husk, which is one of the main sources of biomass in Thailand, has already been used on a commercial scale. However, the environmental impacts associated with different rice husk applications have not yet been widely investigated in the Thai context. While there is a need to find ways of dealing with rice husk disposal, it is also important to ensure that this husk is used in ways that harm the environment least. This research aims to identify the most environmentally friendly use of rice husk for Thailand. To achieve this, the research is divided into three main stages; identification of main current and potential uses of rice husk in Thailand; data collection; and data analysis using Life Cycle Analysis approach. A range of methods such as literature review, questionnaires with rice mill owners, and interviews with industry personnel, were used to help in identifying the current and potential uses of rice husk. The major current and potential rice husk uses chosen to be examined in this research are those uses of rice husk in electricity generation, in cement manufacture and in cellulosic ethanol production. The second stage is to collect detailed data about the processes of the selected rice husk uses to be examined. This was undertaken by literature review, questionnaires and interviews with involved industry personnel. The last stage is to analyse the data collated. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach and the L CA software package SimaPro (version 7.1.6) were used to assess the environmental impacts of the selected rice husk uses. Results from the LCA are reviewed in the context of critical policy issues, including the Thai government biomass policies; the capacity of the production process of rice husk use options; and the infrastructure availability and practicality of the rice husk use options. Based on the goal and scope of the study, the data available for this study and the review of the issues just mentioned, it is concluded that, in the short term, the most practical environmentally friendly use of rice husk across the three uses investigated is the use of rice husk in electricity generation. However, with expected oil shortages in the future, rice husk should also be considered for use in cellulosic ethanol production, as this option helps to save some amount of petrol.

Biofuels, a solar-sourced technology that can be processed from non-fossilized plant matter, have significant appeal as a means of securing a reliable, sustainable energy supply. They appear to offer significant potential by virtue of being harvestable from common plant life such as prairie grasses. I argue that a shared set of knowledge claims emerging from multiple energy/environmental institutions in Germany and the U.S. are linked by a shared set of assumptions. I characterize these claims as a "mainstream" discourse because together they function as a single powerful discourse that influences national policy and research priorities. In examining the potential material impacts of the discourse on regional and global habitats, I demonstrate the powerful performative capacity of the discourse. I also describe how this mainstream discourse perpetuates momentum along existing trajectories of at least three socio-technological regimes: agriculture, transport, energy. The practitioners (biofuels experts) of the discourse construct representations of the realities that form the basis of their research. I refer to these representations as maps because like a city map, they privilege some things while marginalizing others. These maps are then utilized as guides for intervening into the habitat in order to develop and implement biofuels. Implicated within the maps are practices that have the potential to reconstitute reality. For example, the mapping of a variety of plants as "energy crops" implicates practices generally associated with high-yield cash crops intended for trade on the global marketplace. The materialization of these practices will assimilate various plants, reconstituting them as bona fide energy crops, resulting in monocultured regional and global habitats. I develop my argument by describing how knowledge production is regulated by the implicit rules that govern the discourse. This regulatory apparatus insures that certain types of knowledge as well as methods for producing that knowledge are privileged over others. I introduce several concepts--"institutional platform, thought collective, biofuels practitioner--"as analytical tools to develop my argument and explain how the discourse functions. I demonstrate how perpetual recirculation of knowledge claims through publication, citation, conferences, workshops and task forces naturalizes these claims, giving them authoritative force. This force is evidenced in an increased performative capacity as well as a higher degree of discursive hegemony. I demonstrate the material effects of the discourse at the practical level of its deployment by introducing another analytical tool --ground truthing. Geographers and military reconnaissance personnel use ground truthing to describe the process of physically inspecting the lay of the land in order to determine the accuracy of the maps. With this tool, I demonstrate the potential of the discourse to reconstitute habitats and landscapes. Finally I propose changing the terms of mainstream energy discourse through practices intended to de-scientize and democratize the discourse through incorporating alternative expertises. This includes: a} moving away from corporate control of energy solutions by situating energy-systems decisions and ownership at the local community level, and b} improving the definition of systemic problems by transitioning away from knowledge production that privileges the detached "spectator" approach over the embodied, participatory approach.
Ph. D.

Dedicated energy crops have the potential to supply a sustainable biomass feedstock to support the bioenergy industry. However, a major constraint for promoting energy crops has been the availability of land for establishing energy crops. In this study, we developed a spatially-explicit model to identify suitable and economically feasible sites for establishing energy crops based on biomass price, production costs and site-specific biomass productivity. Results from our study provided an objective evaluation of factors that influence the amount and spatial distribution of land suitable for establishing energy crops. In addition, our model had the ability to capture variation across the feasible areas because of changing biomass market and policy conditions. By performing a sensitivity analysis with different market and policy scenarios, we were able to identify the most effective and favorable scenarios that could maximize the available land for producing energy crops.

The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the economic impact of newly operational ethanol biorefineries on rural counties in the U.S. Midwest region for the period 2001 to 2015 using a quasi-experimental approach. Rapid growth in the ethanol industry expanded the number of ethanol plants located in the U.S. Midwest from 54 in 2001 to 173 in 2015. Out of the counties with 119 new ethanol biorefineries, 97 counties met the general treatment criteria defined in this dissertation, but only 56 of those counties qualified for the rural treatment criteria. Counties with ethanol biorefineries that qualified for treatment were organized into a treated group based on county level data. Six counterfactual control groups (or control counties without ethanol biorefineries) were contemporaneously matched to the treated counties based on the Mahalanobis distance metric evaluated on a set of 29 selection variables. Matching occurred on two levels. In the first level, matching was performed both for the in-state level and over the entire Midwest region. In the second level, three criteria were used to select the final control groups: Mahalanobis distance metric best match, population best match, and rural-urban continuum codes (RUCC) best match. Economic impact is evaluated based on the growth rate in real per capita earnings for the treated group over a period from one to five years after treatment relative to the control group. A difference-in-differences (DID) model is used to assess the significance of results where the dependent variable is the natural log of real per capita earnings and a set of control variables is used to capture state fixed effects, time fixed effects and spillover effects. Empirical results evaluated against a representative Midwest control group and over six regression models adjusting for various fixed effects produced, on average, one-sided significant results for average treatment on the treated (ATOT) with a (min, max) range of growth rates as (5.53%-7.63%), (10.0%-12.0%), (14.7%-19.6%), (14.5%-18.3%), and (13.3%-18.9%) from one to five years after treatment, respectively. The minimum value of these estimates can be represented as an uncorrected average annual growth rate as 2.75%, 3.33%, 3.68%, 2.90%, and 2.22% over the respective period from one to five years after treatment. Employment levels for the treated group increased on average by 211 at the county level five years after treatment. A comparative Midwest control group lost, on average, 169 jobs over the five year period after treatment. A treated county employment multiplier calculated using the direct, indirect and induced employment impacts varied from 1.46 during the year of treatment to 7.6 five years after treatment relative to the control group. Five years after treatment, the treated group employment rate gradually increased, on average, by 2.2% which was better than either of the two counterfactual control groups used in this comparison. Overall, the analysis presented in this dissertation does show statistically significant positive economic impacts, on average, for rural U.S. Midwest counties with newly operational ethanol biorefineries relative to control counties without an ethanol biorefinery. These results demonstrate that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) contributed to positive rural economic development impacts in treated counties with the possibility of spillover effects positively affecting contiguous counties.

Relatórios científicos apontam a mudança global do clima por conta de ações antrópicas decorrentes de atividades econômicas e industriais. Em conseqüência, as propostas e medidas para evitar o aquecimento global direta ou indiretamente remetem a questões de política energética e desenvolvimento sustentável. Energias renováveis ocupam uma posição estratégica dentro desse contexto. A bioenergia representa cerca de 10,2% de oferta de energia primaria global, sendo que mais de 80% desta biomassa é derivada de madeira. Entretanto, existem dúvidas com relação à biomassa florestal e sua contribuição. A complexidade da situação expõe a relevância de políticas públicas que regulem o uso da biomassa florestal. A política de Reposição Florestal Obrigatória Obrigatória (RFO), em vigor no Estado de São Paulo desde 2008, prevê que a madeira consumida seja reposta e dessa forma agrega os conceitos de sustentabilidade no consumo do produto florestal. Para abordar o potencial energético da biomassa florestal através do mecanismo de regulação da RFO no cenário de mudanças climáticas o estudo foi estruturado em duas etapas:1) levantamento da dinâmica do mecanismos de regulação praticados; 2) padronização de um sistema de produção de lenha de RFO e quantificação das emissões de CO2 equivalente do processo. Foi constatado que a RFO sustenta um papel significativo para regulação da biomassa florestal energética. Entretanto, na prática apresenta falhas. Proporcionalmente, Piracicaba repôs o equivalente a 1,92% da lenha produzida em 2009. O sistema de produção de lenha envolve as etapas: produção de mudas; transporte de mudas; manejo florestal; Corte; transporte de lenha. A lenha de RFO confirmou-se como energético de baixa expressividade com relação a CO2 equivalente, principalmente quando comparada com seus energéticos concorrentes: a eletricidade e o gás natural.
Sceintific reports point antropic activities as the most significant contribution to climate change. Strategies for climate change mitigation concerns directly on energy policy and sustainable development. Bioenergy offering represents 10.2% in global energy resources but more than 80% of this offering consists in woodfuel. However, the questions regarding the role forest biomass plays in climate changing scenery demands public policy and crucial regulatory mechanisms. The Forest Reposition Policy (FRP), since 2008, in São Paulo State regulates forest biomass consumption providing a potential sustainable chain. The main objective in this study consist on evaluate the FRP as a potential mechanism to regulate bioenergy production. To evaluate FRP as a strategic tool in this scenery the study approaches the case of Piracicaba (SP, Brazil) and presents two stages of analyses: 1) Evaluation of FRP mechanism dynamics analyzing official documents; 2) Setting up a firewood standard chain through FRP and evaluation of CO2 equivalent emissions on the process by using Life Cycle Assessment tool. The results bring out the lack of efficiency on FRP. Proporcionally, in Piracicaba only 1.92% of firewood were repositioned. Apart from that, FRP demonstrated a strong potential to forest biomass sustainable production. The standard productions system was defined as: seedlings production; seedlings transportation, forest management; logging; firewood transportation. The CO2 emissions in chain quantified non significant results and firewood in FRP system confirms its potential of mitigation between other available options.

Public and private incentive programs have encouraged conversions to high efficiency, low emissions wood heating systems as a strategy to promote renewable energy and support local economies in the Northeastern US. Despite these efforts, the adoption of these systems remains slow. The study that is the subject of this dissertation examines several social, economic, policy and environmental factors that affect the decisions of individuals and small-scale institutions (local business and community facilities) to transition to automated wood pellet boilers and furnaces (AWPH) utilizing local fuel sources. Due to the complexity and risk associated with conversion, the transition to these systems can help further both a practical and theoretical understanding of the global transition to non-fossil fuel technologies. Chapter One of this dissertation examines this notion in more detail, as well as spells out the research questions of this study. Chapter Two delves into the research methods and their implications for other studies of energy transitions. These methods include interviews with 60 consumers, technology and fuel suppliers, and NGO and state agency personnel. These provided in-depth qualitative data which are complemented by a four-state survey (New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Maine) of adopters and informed non-adopters of AWPH systems (n=690; 38% response rate). Interview and survey questions, as well as subsequent coding, was developed through use of diffusion of innovation theory, the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions, as well as through collaboration with industry experts and research partners. Chapters Three and Four offer a discussion of the results and their implications. Specifically, Chapter Three examines the complex system actors, elements, and interactions that are part of the transition from fossil fuel technology to AWPH. Chapter Four focuses on the data surrounding state and private programs that encourage the use of AWPH and the implications that this data has for effective climate mitigation and energy policy. Data show that AWPH consumers, who should be considered “early adopters” due to the small number of AWPH adopters in the region, are largely value-driven but are also concerned about upfront costs and lack of available technical support and fuel delivery options. Both environmental values (e.g. desire to find alternative to fossil fuels, concern for air quality and belief in climate change) and social values (e.g. support for the local economy and wood products industry) influenced consumer decisions, especially when fuel oil prices were low. Financial incentives, which are offered by all four states in the study region, were highly influential, but additional decision support offered by a non-profit (e.g. site visits, informational workshops, local print media) were rated highly by consumers where they were available. These additional supports, as well as the community-based nature of the non-profit program, enabled a broader range of people (lower income, more risk averse) to choose AWPH as well as created more efficiency in the supply chain. This approach created a reinforcing feedback loop between broader early adopters of AWPH, normalization of AWPH technology and its associated infrastructure, and increased levels of technical support and fuel availability. These findings suggest that efforts to increase adoption of renewable technologies that use locally harvest fuels take a community-based and system-wide approach, targeting both consumer and supplier motivations and barriers.

Au Brésil, la canne à sucre sert de matière première à la fabrication de sucre, de carburant, et d’électricité. Ce modèle industriel a permis au pays d’ériger en avantage compétitif sa productivité en biomasse. Il a été promu en Afrique mais la majorité des projets d’agroénergies y a été un échec. Ce constat pose la question de l’intérêt du modèle au Brésil et du rôle des agroénergies dans une stratégie de développement. Notre analyse pose le « modèle brésilien » comme Système d’Innovation Technologique - le SIT de la canne - dont nous analysons la trajectoire de long terme afin d’en saisir les déterminants de succès et d’échec ainsi que le rôle socio-économique historique. Il se structure depuis la fin du XIXème et sert une stratégie de diversification des marchés de la canne à sucre par l’importation, l’adaptation et la diffusion des technologies nécessaires à l’essor de ces nouveaux marchés. La filière biocarburant a en particulier nécessité de créer un système technologique alternatif. Le soutien public a été déterminant dans l’évolution du SIT de la canne, façonnée par les crises sociales et économiques du pays. Par le SIT de la canne, le Brésil a pu former son capital humain à la valorisation du capital naturel, cela lui permet aujourd’hui d’expérimenter une conversion agroécologique du mode de culture, afin de régénérer le capital naturel sol.Notre analyse du modèle brésilien nous permet de préciser la fonction des agroénergies dans une stratégie de développement : elles sont avant tout un outil de soutien à l’économie agricole. Au regard de cela nous analysons les facteurs d’échecs des projets africains de jatropha-énergie et formulons une proposition pour la structuration d’un SIT des agroénergies adapté aux enjeux de développement de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, que nous proposons d’adosser à la filière oléagineuse
In Brazil, sugar cane is used as a raw material for the production of sugar, fuel, and electricity. This industrial model has enabled the country to build a competitive advantage on the biomass productivity of its soils. It has been promoted in Africa but the majority of African bioenergy projects have been a failure. This raises the question of the interest of the model in Brazil, of the role of bioenergy in a development strategy.The Brazilian model is a Technological Innovation System, the sugar cane TIS, which we analyze in the long term. Since the end of the 19th century, it has been structured to import, adapt and spread technologies in order to diversify sugar cane markets. The biofuel sector required the creation of an alternative technological system, financed by the State through the Proalcool Program (1975 to 1985); Created to absorb the surpluses of the sugar sector and for the energy security of the country. Public support was key in the evolution of the TIS, forged in the wake of the country's social and economic crises. The sugar cane TIS has enabled Brazil to train its human capital in the valorization of natural capital, which enables it today to experiment a new change : the agroecological conversion of the cane cultivation model, that would allow regenerating the Natural Capital soil. Based on our analysis of the Brazilian model we formulate an analysis of the factors of failure of the African jatropha biofuel projects and make a proposal for the structuring of a biofuel TIS adapted to West Africa stakes of development, which we suggest to back up to the oilseed chain
No Brasil, a cana-de-açúcar é utilizado como matéria-prima na fabricação de açúcar, combustível e eletricidade. Este modelo de negócio tem permitido ao país para transformar a produtividade de biomassa de seu solo em uma vantagem competitiva. Ele foi promovido na África, mas a maioria dos projetos de agroenergia africanos houve uma falha. Isso levanta a questão do interesse do modelo no Brasil, bem como o papel da bioenergia em uma estratégia de desenvolvimento. O modelo brasileiro é um Sistema de Inovação Tecnológica, o SIT da cana, que analisamos a longo prazo. Ele é estruturado desde o final do século XIX para importação, adaptação e difusão de tecnologias afim de diversificar os mercados de cana. O setor do etanol combustível tem necessidade de um sistema tecnologia alternativa, financiado pelo governo através do Programa Proálcool (1975-1985); ele foi criado para absorver os excedentes do sector do açúcar e para a segurança energética do país. O apoio público tem sido fundamental para a evolução do SIT, foi forjada pelas crises sociais e económicas do país. Hoje o SIT da cana-de-açúcar experimenta um modelo de produção agroecológica para o cultivo da cana, ele deveria ser capaz de regenerar o capital natural. Nossa análise do modelo brasileiro nos permite fazer uma análise dos fatores de não-sucesso dos projetos africanos de produção de biocombustível de jatropha. Nós formular uma proposta de estruturação de um SIT da agroenergia Oeste Africano adaptado às questões de desenvolvimento locais, propomos a ser associado ao setor oleaginosa

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This work aims to analyze the institutional environment of the biogas from the concepts of New Institutional Economics (NIE) addressing the set of rules, laws, legislation and other actions that will define the influences of economic agents, public policies aimed at this alternative source of energy, which can generate income and development, and thus provide economic exploitation and promote competitiveness. Besides, the biogas originated by swine manure is presented as an alternative to the Brazilian energy deficit in a global scenario of increasing concern about the impact of the consumption of fossil fuels on the environment. Among the environmental impacts caused by the swine industry that stands out is the contamination of water courses, which may occur directly, through the release of waste into rivers, streams or lakes and, indirectly, through runoff in pastures and crops fertilized with manure, however, when relocated, can generate income and improve the environment with the use of fertilizer and biogas, allowing alternative energy in rural areas and minimizing environmental impact. The viability of the biogas energy recovery depends substantially on the scale of projects, it also appears competitive when compared with fossil fuels used in industry and transport sector. Despite the existing incentive mechanisms to the energy use of biogas, and incentives for alternative sources of renewable energy in Brazil, several regulatory barriers, institutional, economic and technological hinder the effective utilization of this source. Thus, this study indicates the need for greater coordination between the different spheres of government, private sector and research institutions and development to formulate effective policies to promote better energy use of biogas in Brazil. The principal measures to achieve these objectives include free access of energy renewables to the electricity market, measures of fiscal and financial incentives and efforts in research, development and demonstration.
Este trabalho tem como finalidade analisar o ambiente institucional do biogás, a partir dos conceitos da Nova Economia Institucional (NEI), abordando o conjunto de normas, leis, legislação e demais ações que irão delimitar a influência dos agentes econômicos, as políticas públicas voltadas para essa fonte alternativa de energia, a qual poderá gerar renda e desenvolvimento, e assim proporcionar a exploração econômica e promover a competitividade. Ademais, o biogás oriundo do dejeto suíno, apresenta-se como uma alternativa para o déficit energético brasileiro num cenário mundial de preocupação crescente sobre o impacto do consumo dos recursos fósseis sobre o meio ambiente. Dentre os impactos ambientais causados pela suinocultura o que mais se destaca é a contaminação de cursos d água, que pode ocorrer de forma direta, através do lançamento dos dejetos em rios, córregos ou lagos e, de forma indireta, através do escoamento superficial em pastagens e lavouras adubadas com os dejetos, no entanto quando remanejado, pode gerar renda e melhorar o meio ambiente, com o uso do biofertilizante e do biogás, viabilizando alternativas energéticas no meio rural e minimizando o impacto ambiental. A viabilidade do biogás com o aproveitamento energético depende substancialmente da escala dos projetos, este também se mostra competitivo quando comparado aos combustíveis fósseis utilizados na indústria e no setor de transporte. Apesar dos mecanismos de incentivo existentes ao aproveitamento energético do biogás, e incentivos às fontes alternativas renováveis de energia no Brasil, diversas barreiras regulatórias, institucionais, econômicas e tecnológicas dificultam o efetivo aproveitamento desta fonte. Assim, este trabalho indica a necessidade de uma maior coordenação entre as diferentes esferas do governo, o setor privado e instituições de pesquisa e desenvolvimento à formulação de políticas efetivas para promover o melhor aproveitamento energético do biogás no Brasil. As principais medidas para atingir esses objetivos incluem o livre acesso das energias renováveis ao mercado de eletricidade, medidas de incentivos fiscais e financeiros e esforços em pesquisa, desenvolvimento e demonstração.

博士
逢甲大學
環境工程與科學學系
103
Food waste (FW) related issues is currently considered to be a major threatening factor for sustainable development and environmental pollution. Due to the incomplete FW management systems, many developing countries are facing environmental challenges and sanitary problems. The difference in FW generation trends between developing countries and developed countries was reviewed in this dissertation, which demonstrated that the effects of income level, population growth, and public participation in FW management are very important. In addition, this dissertation reviewed recycling activities, related regulations, and current FW treatment technology in some countries. Among countries, Taiwan has been demonstrated as being a successful case in terms of FW management, and is therefore a typical model for other countries to follow. Besides, this dissertation presented three biological methods include fermentation for bio-methane (Method I), fermentation for bio-hydrogen (Method II) and fermentation for bio-hydrogen and bio-methane (Method III), which were analyzed to evaluate the capacity of bioenergy conversion from FW based on some case studies. The results showed that Method I with could give the highest energy benefits, and being the most suitable method for commercialization of FW treatment, with 220 kWh/tonne FW in comparison with 12.5 kWh/tonne FW (Method II), and 51.3 kWh/tonne FW (Method III). Furthermore, FW treatment-based anaerobic digestion (AD) has proven to play a primary role in electricity industry with high potential energy and economic benefits, which could reduce electricity prices in comparison with other renewable energy resources. Levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) were US$65/MWh for FW treatment in AD landfill, US$130/MWh for solar power, US$190/MWh for AD biogas, and US$204/MWh for wind power. Generally, the approaches of FW treatment via AD to provide a partial electricity supply for five countries in future were estimated as China-42,900 GWh/year (sharing 0.87% of total electricity generation), Japan-7040 GWh/year (0.64% of total electricity generation) and the United States-13,387 GWh/year (0.31% of total electricity generation). In terms of heat conversion from FW, it was estimated that top five countries could attain high heating value per capita from annual FW such as Canada-4915 MJ/capita, the Netherlands-3367 MJ/capita, the United Kingdom-1497 MJ/capita, Japan-1608 MJ/capita, and Sweden-1278 MJ/capita. Overall, this study demonstrated that FW to bioenergy is expected to become a high energy yielding renewable biomass, which should be developed in commercial real scale treatment facilities for FW feedstock, and also serve as a suitable “zero waste” strategy of FW management in many countries.

The energy security and climate change risks of fossil fuel consumption have stimulated interest in developing renewable energy sources. Canada’s vast biomass potential is an attractive local resource but high transportation costs are a barrier to implementation. This study assesses how transformative systems can enable large-scale bioenergy production through integration with existing transportation corridors and fossil fuel infrastructure. Potential bioenergy corridors include the network of natural gas pipelines and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS). Sustainable lignocellulosic biomass production integrated with traditional food and fibre production was assumed to occur on 196 Mha of land within 100 km of pipelines. Conservative (81 Mt of dry biomass per year) and aggressive (209 Mt) scenarios were investigated for converting biomass to synthetic natural gas (SNG) via gasification, methanation, and upgrading, yielding enough pipeline-quality gas to meet 20% to 60% of Canada’s current needs. A systems analysis approach was used to calculate bioSNG life-cycle emissions of 15 to 18 kgCO2e GJ-1, compared to 68 or 87 for conventional or liquefied natural gas, respectively. Production costs ranged from $16 to $20 GJ-1, which were high compared to regional gas prices ($5 to $10 GJ-1). The biomass potential on 125 Mha of land area within 100 km of the Canadian portion of the GLSLS and railway lines ranged from 36 to 80 Mt(dry) per year, which was enough to displace coal-fired power in Ontario plus produce 1.6 to 11 billion L of green diesel that could offset 14% to 96% of fossil diesel in GLSLS provinces. Life-cycle emissions ranged from 110 to 130 gCO2e kWh-1 for biopower (compared to 1030 for coal) and 20 to 22 kgCO2e GJ-1 for green diesel (compared to 84 for conventional diesel). Cost estimates ranged from $130 MWh-1 for biopower (compared to an average market power price of $54 MWh-1) and $28 to $36 GJ-1 for green diesel (compared to $16 to $24 GJ-1 for diesel). The auxiliary benefits (energy security, climate change, air quality, and rural development) were seen as justification for supportive bioenergy policies.
Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-09 15:24:18.389

The limitations of renewable energy technologies require that pathways are carefully chosen such that renewable resources are used most effectively in addressing modern energy challenges. Optimized decision-making is particularly challenging for the forest bioenergy sector because of the multitude of potential pathways and because profit is highly sensitive to biomass procurement costs. I assessed energy wood recovery and procurement costs during semi-mechanized selection operations in the tolerant hardwood forests of Ontario. Logging contractors were able to recover unmerchantable sections of branches normally discarded during conventional operations, amounting to 1.3 to 2.7 dry tonnes of additional biomass per hectare. Supply chain scenarios are used to show that the biomass can be brought to market at a cost similar to mechanized operations. The need for prioritization of decentralization, efficiency, and integration with the value-added forest sector is discussed with reference to the relative scarcity and high cost of the forest resource.

Empirical investigation into afforestation and bioenergy carbon finance projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Moldova demonstrates that effective projects—both in terms of sustainable development and the generation of genuine carbon credits—are more likely to result when the state is able to bring carbon finance initiatives into alignment with national development objectives. Amongst the countries investigated, the most important factor in such alignment was, paradoxically, commitment liberal economic reforms. Contrary to the expectation that the performance of projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would be the same in states with similar administrative capacities, carbon finance projects were more effective in Uganda and Moldova than Tanzania. Commitment to liberal economic reforms in Uganda functions as an animating set of ideas that allows the state apparatus to work in a more purposeful manner and establish institutions and organizations which allow it to generate state power for low-carbon development. For CDM forest and bioenergy projects, the risk of unsustainability is mitigated by a land tenure system and investment regime that (i) offer opportunities for individual smallholders to engage directly with the carbon market and create incentives for domestic investors while (ii) also accommodating historical land governance practices. Genuine carbon credits were associated with project developers who possessed a latent organizational capacity for implementation and were motivated to pursue market opportunities—state forest agencies in Uganda and Moldova. However, the ability of the state to retain latent organizational capacity was restricted to sectors such as forestry that are less sophisticated technically; in the energy sector, such capacity was ceded to the private sector in Uganda and Moldova during structural adjustment. More skeptical of liberal economic policy, Tanzania has retained capacity in the energy sector; however, for the same reasons, it has not treated the CDM as a genuine opportunity. At current carbon prices, CDM projects investigated were effective when the state was able to play a developmental role in the economy. Whether commitment to liberal economic reforms can have similar developmental effects in other parts of the developing world is questionable—a different animating set of ideas may be important.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been steadily increasing from anthropogenic energy production, development and use. Carbon cycling in the terrestrial biosphere, particularly forest ecosystems, has an important role in regulating atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. US West coast forest management policies are being developed to implement forest bioenergy production while reducing risk of catastrophic wildfire. Modeling and understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems to changing environmental conditions associated with energy production and use are primary goals of global change science. Coupled carbon-nitrogen ecosystem process models identify and predict important factors that govern long term changes in terrestrial carbon stores or net ecosystem production (NEP). By quantifying and reducing uncertainty in model estimates using existing datasets, this research provides a solid scientific foundation for evaluating carbon dynamics under conditions of future climate change and land management practices at local and regional scales. Through the combined use of field observations, remote sensing data products, and the NCAR CESM/CLM4-CN coupled carbon-climate model, the objectives of this project were to 1) determine the interactive effects of changing environmental factors (i.e. increased CO���, nitrogen deposition, warming) on net carbon uptake in temperate forest ecosystems and 2) predict the net carbon emissions of West Coast forests under future climate scenarios and implementation of bioenergy programs. West Coast forests were found to be a current strong carbon sink after accounting for removals from harvest and fire. Net biome production (NBP) was 26 �� 3 Tg C yr�����, an amount equal to 18% of Washington, Oregon, and California fossil fuel emissions combined. Modeling of future conditions showed increased net primary production (NPP) because of climate and CO��� fertilization, but was eventually limited by nitrogen availability, while heterotrophic respiration (R[subscript h]) continued to increase, leading to little change in net ecosystem production (NEP). After accounting for harvest removals, management strategies which increased harvest compared to business-as-usual (BAU) resulted in decreased NBP. Increased harvest activity for bioenergy did not reduce short- or long-term emissions to the atmosphere regardless of the treatment intensity or product use. By the end of the 21st century, the carbon accumulated in forest regrowth and wood product sinks combined with avoided emissions from fossil fuels and fire were insufficient to offset the carbon lost from harvest removals, decomposition of wood products, associated harvest/transport/manufacturing emissions, and bioenergy combustion emissions. The only scenario that reduced carbon emissions compared to BAU over the 90 year period was a 'No Harvest' scenario where NBP was significantly higher than BAU for most of the simulation period. Current and future changes to baseline conditions that weaken the forest carbon sink may result in no change to emissions in some forest types.
Graduation date: 2013

As an alternative renewable source for bioenergy, forest biomass has recently drawn more attention from the U.S. government and the general public. Woody biomass policies have been adopted to encourage the new bioenergy industry. A variety of state policy incentives attempt to create a desirable legal climate and lure new firms, imposing two important questions regarding state government policies and the sustainable use of forest resources. This dissertation sheds some light on these questions. The first paper constructs a woody biomass policy index through scoring each statute and weighting different categories of policies from the vantage point of renewable energy investment. It analyzes the disparity in the strength of state government incentives in the woody biomass utilization. The second paper employs a conditional logit model (CLM) to explore the effects of woody biomass policies on the siting decisions of new bioenergy projects. In addition, significant state attributes influencing the births of new bioenergy firms are identified such as resource availability, business tax climate, delivered pulpwood price, and the average wage rate. The third paper uses the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) model to examine the regional aggregate forest biomass feedstock potential in Tennessee and to predict the impacts of additional pulpwood demand on the regional roundwood market through 2030. The fourth paper includes the benefits of thinning and logging residues in a dynamic optimization model to analyze how bioenergy policies will impact forest stock, harvest levels, optimal rotation, and silvicultural effort. The results may have substantial implications regarding woody biomass policies, the creation of a new bioenergy industry, and sustainable forest resource management. A lucrative state woody biomass policy support and tax climate can attract new bioenergy businesses. States endowed with abundant forest resources may choose to provide strong tax incentives to spur the birth of new plants. However, overuse of forest biomass can impact roundwood markets and traditional wood processing industries. How government incentives will affect the sustainability of natural resources can be diverse. These findings offer constructive insights in the enactment and implementation of new woody biomass legislation.