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Fuel-mix, fuel efficiency, and transport demand affect prospects for biofuels in northern Europe.
Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Apr 01; 44(7):2261-9.ES

Abstract

Rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the road transport sector represents a difficult mitigation challenge due to a multitude of intricate factors, namely the dependency on liquid energy carriers and infrastructure lock-in. For this reason, low-carbon renewable energy carriers, particularly second generation biofuels, are often seen as a prominent candidate for realizing reduced emissions and lowered oil dependency over the medium- and long-term horizons. However, the overarching question is whether advanced biofuels can be an environmentally effective mitigation strategy in the face of increasing consumption and resource constraints. Here we develop both biofuel production and road transport consumption scenarios for northern Europe-a region with a vast surplus of forest bioenergy resources-to assess the potential role that forest-based biofuels may play over the medium- and long-term time horizons using an environmentally extended, multiregion input-output model. Through scenarios, we explore how evolving vehicle technologies and consumption patterns will affect the mitigation opportunities afforded by any future supply of forest biofuels. We find that in a scenario involving ambitious biofuel targets, the size of the GHG mitigation wedge attributed to the market supply of biofuels is severely reduced under business-as-usual growth in consumption in the road transport sector. Our results indicate that climate policies targeting the road transport sector which give high emphases to reducing demand (volume), accelerating the deployment of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and promoting altered consumption patterns (structure) can be significantly more effective than those with single emphasis on expanded biofuel supply.

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Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Bright RM
Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. ryan.m.bright@ntnu.no
Strømman AH
No affiliation info available

MeSH

BiofuelsBiomassConservation of Energy ResourcesEuropeForestryFossil FuelsGlobal WarmingGreenhouse EffectTransportation

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

20163088

Citation

Bright, Ryan M., and Anders Hammer Strømman. "Fuel-mix, Fuel Efficiency, and Transport Demand Affect Prospects for Biofuels in Northern Europe." Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 44, no. 7, 2010, pp. 2261-9.
Bright RM, Strømman AH. Fuel-mix, fuel efficiency, and transport demand affect prospects for biofuels in northern Europe. Environ Sci Technol. 2010;44(7):2261-9.
Bright, R. M., & Strømman, A. H. (2010). Fuel-mix, fuel efficiency, and transport demand affect prospects for biofuels in northern Europe. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(7), 2261-9. https://doi.org/10.1021/es903135c
Bright RM, Strømman AH. Fuel-mix, Fuel Efficiency, and Transport Demand Affect Prospects for Biofuels in Northern Europe. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Apr 1;44(7):2261-9. PubMed PMID: 20163088.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Fuel-mix, fuel efficiency, and transport demand affect prospects for biofuels in northern Europe. AU - Bright,Ryan M, AU - Strømman,Anders Hammer, PY - 2010/2/19/entrez PY - 2010/2/19/pubmed PY - 2010/6/9/medline SP - 2261 EP - 9 JF - Environmental science & technology JO - Environ Sci Technol VL - 44 IS - 7 N2 - Rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the road transport sector represents a difficult mitigation challenge due to a multitude of intricate factors, namely the dependency on liquid energy carriers and infrastructure lock-in. For this reason, low-carbon renewable energy carriers, particularly second generation biofuels, are often seen as a prominent candidate for realizing reduced emissions and lowered oil dependency over the medium- and long-term horizons. However, the overarching question is whether advanced biofuels can be an environmentally effective mitigation strategy in the face of increasing consumption and resource constraints. Here we develop both biofuel production and road transport consumption scenarios for northern Europe-a region with a vast surplus of forest bioenergy resources-to assess the potential role that forest-based biofuels may play over the medium- and long-term time horizons using an environmentally extended, multiregion input-output model. Through scenarios, we explore how evolving vehicle technologies and consumption patterns will affect the mitigation opportunities afforded by any future supply of forest biofuels. We find that in a scenario involving ambitious biofuel targets, the size of the GHG mitigation wedge attributed to the market supply of biofuels is severely reduced under business-as-usual growth in consumption in the road transport sector. Our results indicate that climate policies targeting the road transport sector which give high emphases to reducing demand (volume), accelerating the deployment of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and promoting altered consumption patterns (structure) can be significantly more effective than those with single emphasis on expanded biofuel supply. SN - 0013-936X UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/20163088/Fuel_mix_fuel_efficiency_and_transport_demand_affect_prospects_for_biofuels_in_northern_Europe_ L2 - https://doi.org/10.1021/es903135c DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -