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The climate impacts of bioenergy systems depend on market and regulatory policy contexts.
Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Oct 01; 44(19):7347-50.ES

Abstract

Biomass can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by displacing petroleum in the transportation sector, by displacing fossil-based electricity, and by sequestering atmospheric carbon. Which use mitigates the most emissions depends on market and regulatory contexts outside the scope of attributional life cycle assessments. We show that bioelectricity's advantage over liquid biofuels depends on the GHG intensity of the electricity displaced. Bioelectricity that displaces coal-fired electricity could reduce GHG emissions, but bioelectricity that displaces wind electricity could increase GHG emissions. The electricity displaced depends upon existing infrastructure and policies affecting the electric grid. These findings demonstrate how model assumptions about whether the vehicle fleet and bioenergy use are fixed or free parameters constrain the policy questions an analysis can inform. Our bioenergy life cycle assessment can inform questions about a bioenergy mandate's optimal allocation between liquid fuels and electricity generation, but questions about the optimal level of bioenergy use require analyses with different assumptions about fixed and free parameters.

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Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Lemoine DM
Energy and Resources Group, 310 Barrows Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3050, USA.
Plevin RJ
No affiliation info available
Cohn AS
No affiliation info available
Jones AD
No affiliation info available
Brandt AR
No affiliation info available
Vergara SE
No affiliation info available
Kammen DM
No affiliation info available

MeSH

BiofuelsClimate ChangeDecision MakingPolicy Making

Pub Type(s)

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

Language

eng

PubMed ID

20873876

Citation

Lemoine, Derek M., et al. "The Climate Impacts of Bioenergy Systems Depend On Market and Regulatory Policy Contexts." Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 44, no. 19, 2010, pp. 7347-50.
Lemoine DM, Plevin RJ, Cohn AS, et al. The climate impacts of bioenergy systems depend on market and regulatory policy contexts. Environ Sci Technol. 2010;44(19):7347-50.
Lemoine, D. M., Plevin, R. J., Cohn, A. S., Jones, A. D., Brandt, A. R., Vergara, S. E., & Kammen, D. M. (2010). The climate impacts of bioenergy systems depend on market and regulatory policy contexts. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(19), 7347-50. https://doi.org/10.1021/es100418p
Lemoine DM, et al. The Climate Impacts of Bioenergy Systems Depend On Market and Regulatory Policy Contexts. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Oct 1;44(19):7347-50. PubMed PMID: 20873876.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - The climate impacts of bioenergy systems depend on market and regulatory policy contexts. AU - Lemoine,Derek M, AU - Plevin,Richard J, AU - Cohn,Avery S, AU - Jones,Andrew D, AU - Brandt,Adam R, AU - Vergara,Sintana E, AU - Kammen,Daniel M, PY - 2010/9/30/entrez PY - 2010/9/30/pubmed PY - 2011/1/7/medline SP - 7347 EP - 50 JF - Environmental science & technology JO - Environ Sci Technol VL - 44 IS - 19 N2 - Biomass can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by displacing petroleum in the transportation sector, by displacing fossil-based electricity, and by sequestering atmospheric carbon. Which use mitigates the most emissions depends on market and regulatory contexts outside the scope of attributional life cycle assessments. We show that bioelectricity's advantage over liquid biofuels depends on the GHG intensity of the electricity displaced. Bioelectricity that displaces coal-fired electricity could reduce GHG emissions, but bioelectricity that displaces wind electricity could increase GHG emissions. The electricity displaced depends upon existing infrastructure and policies affecting the electric grid. These findings demonstrate how model assumptions about whether the vehicle fleet and bioenergy use are fixed or free parameters constrain the policy questions an analysis can inform. Our bioenergy life cycle assessment can inform questions about a bioenergy mandate's optimal allocation between liquid fuels and electricity generation, but questions about the optimal level of bioenergy use require analyses with different assumptions about fixed and free parameters. SN - 1520-5851 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/20873876/The_climate_impacts_of_bioenergy_systems_depend_on_market_and_regulatory_policy_contexts_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -