Energy crops and sustainability – development of an evaluation model
2015
Ahlgren, S., Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Energy and Technology | Gunnarsson, C., Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Uppsala (Sweden )
Demand for bioenergy crops from arable land is likely to increase in the future, and there is a need to verify their sustainability. In sustainability assessment many different factors must be considered, including social, economic and ecological/environmental aspects. We have developed a model to evaluate the sustainability of bioenergy crop cultivation. The focus of this study was to illustrate and evaluate the model’s usefulness. The model was therefore developed only to a limited extent where a few criteria are selected and only willow cultivation in Götaland northern plains in Sweden is evaluated. The model is aimed for local authorities, to function as decision support. The model evaluates the greenhouse gas emissions, energy balance, nitrogen leaching together and the impact on the landscape. For the impact on the landscape a scoring system was developed to make it quantifiable and thus possible to evaluate along with the other criteria. The model was tested in a case study on willow cultivation, with winter wheat and ley as reference crops. The model proved to be a good basis for evaluation of sustainability in the cultivation of energy crops. The graphical presentation of the model result clearly showed how the different crops perform in the included criteria. We however conclude that the model needs to be extended and refined before it can function as a basis for choice between different crops or location sites.
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