Matching socio-economic and environmental efficiency of wood-residues energy chain: a partial equilibrium model for a case study in Alpine area

Abstract

Keywords:Wood energy chain Partial equilibrium model Multi-objective linear programming Geographic information system Sustainability assessment a b s t r a c tCombining the economics and the environmental and social aspects of bioenergy chain implementation is a difficult task, particularly for wood fuel production. Multiple aspects, such as financial analysis, technology development, natural resource exploitation and avoided environmental pollution, must be considered simultaneously. Thus, decision support models seem to be the proper tools for the overall definition of strategies in the wood energy sector.The objective of this study has been to develop a partial equilibrium model able to quantify the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policy, technology and best biomass allocation scenarios on the forest residue chain. The model, based on multi-objective linear programming and spatial analysis, considers the financial benefits/losses and the potential trends of three compartments: sawmills, forest enterprises and energy plants. In addition, the model computes avoided emissions for bioheat and bioelectricity production and introduces an impact indicator for the road transport of biomass. Model outputs are defined using a multi criteria approach. The main results stress the importance of both environmental parameters and the implementation of organic Rankine cycle technology for the optimization of the entire bioenergy chain. The model was tested in an Italian Alpine region (province of Trento).

Forest Maintenance Practices and Wood Energy Alternatives to Increase Uses of Forest Resources in a Local Initiative in Nishiwaga, Iwate, Japan

“…Many studies on the assessment of wood energy supply and demand exist from various viewpoints, for example, the supply-demand balance [21], the optimal location of an energy facility [22], such multiple aspects as environmental and socio-economic impacts [23][24][25][26], cost and environmental impacts [27,28], sustainable logistics flow [29], and resource potential and economic feasibility [30]. Cambero and Sowlati [31] reviewed studies on the assessment of forest biomass supply chains from the economic, social, and environmental perspectives.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has assessed wood energy from this viewpoint. In addition, most previous studies that assessed the wood energy potential first estimated the availability of wood biomass for energy as a result of logging [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] in supply-oriented studies. However, from the viewpoint of mitigating underutilization, the information required is quite the opposite; how much forest area will be maintained by implementing a new wood energy project.…”

Balancing Economic Development and Environmental Conservation for a New Governance of Alpine Areas

“…Other possible negative implications of abandonment are those connected to the protective functions of the forests: forests that over the centuries have been altered by Man, nowadays need forms of management tailor-made to guarantee their stability, functionality, and a capacity for natural regeneration. Regarding intensification, on the other hand, sensitive issues are, among others, those connected to the intensive utilization of meadows [45] or the use of wood biomass for energy supplies [46][47][48]. These days, in fact, there is increasing interest in the use of wood as a source of energy in order to reach the European objective regarding renewable energy sources [49,50].…”

“…GIS-based DSSs include spatial and geographical dimensions, which allow the addition of a great amount of information and the representation of any phenomenon in a more complete and understandable way [116]. The topics treated in GIS DSSs nowadays involve a wide range of different aspects of environmental concerns, such as biological conservation, forest timber or bioenergy-biomass production, the impact of tourism and landscape planning [48,[117][118][119]. However, many of these models or prototypes represent in detail very specific themes and they often lack a broader vision of the problems that include a multifunctional approach [75], or they are designed to give general information on a macro scale (sovra-national, national or macro-regional level) and such systems are not easily usable to help local decision makers [116,119].…”

Stakeholders' appraisal of biomass-based energy development at local scale

“…This percentage is expected to rise as a response to the European Union (EU) countries commitment to have 20% contribution of renewable energy resources in the energy consumption by 2020 (Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC). In order to achieve the target established by Directive 2009/28/EC, wood biomass from forests could play an important role in the future as pointed out by some studies (Panichelli and Gnansounou, 2008;Frombo et al, 2009;and Sacchelli et al, 2014). EUwood have estimated that the EU's forest biomass supply would increase by 11% from 2010 to 2030, while the demand for forest biomass would increase by 73% (Mantau et al, 2010).…”