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Publication
schedule
Pdf file available June 2009
Printed book version forthcoming fall 2009 (Earthscan, London)
Submission
of report "Future Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use"
Bioenergy
for Sustainable Electricity
Bioenergy has the potential to sustainably meet around 10% of
the world’s medium-term energy requirement
Berlin,
3 December 2008. In its new report “Future Bioenergy and Sustainable
Land Use” WBGU, the German Advisory Council on Global Change, concludes
that the global sustainable potential for producing energy from biomass
is significant and should be tapped. The report is the first integrated
study of bioenergy to explore the issue in the context of both global
environmental and development policy. It shows that in the medium term
around 10% of the world’s energy needs could be met by sustainable
bioenergy from biogenic residues and energy crops. About a quarter of
the potential arising from energy crops is located in Central and South
America. Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, North America and China each account
for around 15%, while India accounts for 6%. However, utilization of this
potential should only be pursued if risks to food security as well as
to nature conservation and climate change mitigation targets can be excluded.
For this to happen, binding sustainability standards need to be introduced
at national and international level.
Electric power, not petrol
Bioenergy achieves the greatest contribution to climate change mitigation
when it is used to generate electricity. The key approach is to deploy
bioenergy to replace energy sources entailing high CO2 emissions, particularly
coal. In the electricity sector the climate change mitigation effect of
bioenergy is almost twice that of using biofuels for transport or when
bioenergy is used to produce heat alone. Because of its high energy efficiency,
cogeneration – involving the combined production of both power and
heat – is always preferable to pure electricity generation. WBGU
recommends that the generation of electricity from biomass be more vigorously
promoted, but that promotion be restricted to sustainably produced bioenergy
carriers. If biomethane is used to generate electricity, the climate change
mitigation effect could be even greater if the CO2 captured in the production
process of biomethane could be stored securely.
First generation liquid biofuels such as biodiesel from rape or bioethanol
from maize are not suitable for mitigating climate change. If the cultivation
of energy crops on agricultural land displaces food production and land
elsewhere has to be cleared as a result, more greenhouse gases may be
released than would have been the case if fossil fuels had been used.
Second generation liquid biofuels, in which the whole above-ground part
of the plant is used, perform no better in this regard. By contrast, the
use of perennial tropical plants such as sugar cane, oil palm or jatropha
– where they are grown on degraded land – can have a substantial
positive impact on climate change mitigation. However, considerable damage
can be done to the climate if tropical forest is cleared in order to grow
these crops. WBGU therefore advocates that the promotion of liquid biofuels
for road transport purposes be rapidly abandoned by removing blending
quotas and instead expanding electromobility.
Residues are fuels
Biogenic residues such as wood residue, liquid manure and straw are ideal
sources of energy, because when used properly they entail very little
risk to soils, water or the climate. In addition, they do not compete
with food production. The generation of electricity from wastes and residues
should therefore be particularly promoted.
Deploying modern bioenergy to tackle energy poverty
There are some 50 developing countries in which traditional bioenergy,
involving the burning of wood, dung or crop residues for cooking and heating,
still accounts for more than 90% of energy use. As a result, more than
1.5 million people die each year of indoor air pollution. The more widespread
use of improved wood or charcoal stoves or of micro biogas systems, and
the production of vegetable oils from oil plants such as jatropha, represent
an important and as yet insufficiently exploited lever for tackling poverty.
These technologies should be promoted, since they can deliver significant
improvements in the quality of life of many hundred millions of people
within a very short time and at low cost. The opportunities for rural
development associated with the cultivation of energy crops should be
harnessed. As a first step, however, integrated strategies for bioenergy
use and food security need to be drawn up jointly with partner countries.
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Handing over the flagship report "Future Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use"
from left to right:
Prof. Dr. D. Messner (member of the WBGU), Prof. Dr. J. Schmid (member of the WBGU), State Secretary K. Kortmann (BMZ), Dr. R. Grießhammer (member of the WBGU), Prof. Dr. N. Buchmann (member of the WBGU), Federal Minister S. Gabriel (BMU), Prof. Dr. R. Schubert (WBGU chairman), Federal Minister Dr. A. Schavan (BMBF), Prof. Dr. H. J. Schellnhuber (WBGU vice chair).
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Please direct your queries to:
WBGU Secretariat
Reichpietschufer 60-62, 8th Floor
D-10785 Berlin
Germany
Tel. +49 30 263948 12
Fax +49 30 263948 50
Email: wbgu@wbgu.de
All press releases and reports can be downloaded
at http://www.wbgu.de.
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