Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts

Hastik, Richard; Basso, Stefano; Geitner, Clemens; Haida, Christin; Poljanec, Aleš; Portaccio, Alessia; Vrščaj, Borut; Walzer, Chris

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.004

Cited by 116 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…as a direct indicator; and the number of nectar plants in the area as a possible proxy. The review provided in [84] is an example of a study which specifically focuses on ESS as connected to renewable energy production. Reference [85] argues that the application of the ESS approach to regional levels is particularly suitable.…”

Section: Evaluation Tool: Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy on Regional Sustainability—A Comparative Study of Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) and Okinawa (Japan)

2017

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Abstract:The drive to expand renewable energies is often in direct conflict with sustainable development goals. Thus, it is important that energy policies account for potential trade-offs. We assess the interlinkages between energy, food, water and land, for two case studies, Okinawa and Sogn og Fjordane. We apply a range of assessment methods and study their usefulness as tools to identify trade-offs and to compare the sustainability performance. We calculate cross-sectoral footprints, self-sufficiency ratios and perform a simplified Energy-Water-Food nexus analysis. We use the latter for assessing scenarios to increase energy and food self-sufficiency in Okinawa, while we use ecosystem service (ESS) accounting for Sogn og Fjordane. For Okinawa, we find that constraints on the energy, food and water sectors urgently call for integrated approaches to energy policy; for Sogn og Fjordane, the further expansion of renewables comes at the expense of cultural and supporting ESS, which could outweigh gains from increased energy exports. We recommend a general upgrade to indicators and visualization methods that look beyond averages and a fostering of infrastructure for data on sustainable development based on harmonized international protocols. We warn against rankings of countries or regions based on benchmarks that are neither theory-driven nor location-specific.

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Section: Evaluation Tool: Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focus on a subset of ecosystem services (see Table 5 below) that are most affected by the expansion of hydropower, wind, and biomass [22,76,84] in line with our scenario assumptions for Sogn og Fjordane. Next we explain the calculations for each of the sub-categories.…”

Section: Evaluation Tool: Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy on Regional Sustainability—A Comparative Study of Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) and Okinawa (Japan)

2017

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“…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].…”

Section: A Problem Of Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the following paragraphs, some methodological considerations are put forward on the basis of previous experiences of the authors in the Alpine environment, carried out by means of case studies [1,41,50,[78][79][80][81][82][83]. Among these, in particular, there is the research conducted within the EU Alpine Space Project Recharge.Green [11,[84][85][86].…”

Section: Lessons Already Learnt and Yet To Be Learntmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Cantiani

Geitner

Haida³

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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Abstract:In the Alpine environment, Man has always been directly dependent on mountain ecosystems. Social mechanisms have created specific models of governance, capable of assuring the persistence of ecosystems and their capacity to provide essential goods and services. In recent decades, however, dramatic changes have occurred, such as climate change and changes in land use. The complexity common to all linked human-natural environment systems is extremely marked in the Alpine areas and this makes it difficult to understand how resilient these systems may be. Many research questions arise, in particular as to the comprehension and quantification of the impact of changes on the capacity of ecosystems to produce goods and services in a sustainable way, and the possibility of local mechanisms of governance to adapt to both current and future changes. Reasons and effects of change are analysed from the perspective of the specific issues of governance. The importance of the Ecosystems Services (ESs) concept is acknowledged and the necessity for a dynamic assessment of ESs, taking into account people's values and expectations, is particularly stressed. Through a careful analysis of selected papers and case studies, the main gaps in current knowledge are identified and directions for further research are provided.

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“…Taking climate warming as an example, the global mean annual temperature has increased by 0.13˝C per decade from 1956-2005 [2]. Additionally, in many regions, especially in vulnerable regions, ecosystem degradation has generated many negative impacts on environments because of unreasonable human activities [3,4]. As the biggest terrestrial system on the Earth, grasslands play an important role in maintaining global environmental quality [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Clean Energy Policy Improve the Quality of Alpine Grassland Ecosystem? A Scenario Analysis to Influence the Energy Changes in the Three-River Headwater Region, China

et al. 2016

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Abstract:In past decades, ecological services and functions of alpine grassland in the Three-River Headwater Region (TRHR), Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, have been severely degraded due to overgrazing and overuse of yak dung as a fuel. Therefore, the eco-migration project has been implemented by the national government for improving eco-environmental quality in this region. This paper examines the carbon cycle change from clean energy use of households and assesses its influence on the local grassland ecosystem. Based on the data of household fuels from questionnaire surveys and local statistical yearbooks, we have calculated carbon emission and the ecological benefits by using clean energies. The results showed that total carbon in the process from Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of the ecosystem to dung fuel decreases sharply, and carbon emission from dung is approximate 6% of ecosystem NPP. Reducing the use of yak dung as a fuel has no significant influence on carbon emission, but improves the ecological benefits of the grassland ecosystem, because it is a very important part of the ecosystem carbon cycle. With the most abundant solar energy resources in China, the region should make full use of its advantage for improving ecosystem service values of alpine grassland by making more dung returns to grassland. In conclusion, a clean energy policy (CEP) can effectively improve the ecological services and functions of alpine grassland in the TRHR.

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Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts

Cited by 116 publications

References 110 publications

Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy on Regional Sustainability—A Comparative Study of Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) and Okinawa (Japan)

Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy on Regional Sustainability—A Comparative Study of Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) and Okinawa (Japan)

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

Can Clean Energy Policy Improve the Quality of Alpine Grassland Ecosystem? A Scenario Analysis to Influence the Energy Changes in the Three-River Headwater Region, China

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