The climate effect of increased forest bioenergy use in Sweden: evaluation at different spatial and temporal scales

Abstract

Bioenergy from boreal forests managed for productive purposes (e.g., pulp, timber) is commonly held to offer attractive options for climate change mitigation. However, this view has been challenged in recent years. Carbon balances, cumulative radiative forcing, and average global temperature change have been calculated for a variety of bioenergy management regimes in Swedish forests, and the results support the view that an increased use of forest biomass for energy in Sweden can contribute to climate change mitigation, although methodological (e.g., spatial scales) and parameter value choices influence the results significantly. We show that the climate effect of forest-based bioenergy depends on the forest ecosystems and management, including biomass extraction for bioenergy and other products, and how this management changes in response to anticipated market demands; and on the energy system effects, which determine the fossil carbon displacement and other greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation effects of using forest biomass for bioenergy and other purposes. The public and private sectors are advised to consider information from comprehensive analyses that provide insights about energy and forest systems in the context of evolving forest product markets, alternative policy options, and energy technology pathways in their decision-making processes.

Geospatial supply–demand modeling of biomass residues for co‐firing in European coal power plants

“…See Berndes, Ahlgren, Börjesson, and Cowie (); Cintas et al. (, ) for further reading on this topic.…”

Reference scenarios for evaluating wood pellet production in the Southeastern United States

“…Spatial and temporal scales are critical components of a sound baseline definition for sustainability analysis. Whereas forest operations are conducted at a stand level at a given point in time, the forest landscape that provides feedstock, or ‘fuelshed’ in the case of wood pellet production, is ‘the scale at which forest management across a mosaic of forest stands is coordinated to supply a continuous flow of forest products.’ It is therefore essential to analyse baseline and anticipated future conditions at the scale that considers at least an entire fuelshed. It typically takes at least 10–15 years for forest landscapes to develop new characteristics resulting from management changes made in response to changing market conditions, and a wide variety of intra‐ and inter‐annual conditions and disturbances impact SE forests over different temporal and spatial scales .…”

Carbon balances of bioenergy systems using biomass from forests managed with long rotations: bridging the gap between stand and landscape assessments

“…Where management activities are coordinated across the whole landscape to obtain a continuous flow of wood for the forest industry, calculating carbon balance at the landscape scale can be more appropriate (Eliasson et al ., ; Cintas et al ., ). The large shifts observed at the stand level, from net carbon sequestration to net carbon emissions at harvest, are not observed at the landscape level.…”