Stories tagged with "biodiversity"

A Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Products: Environmental Impact Assessment of Biofuels

Posted by Prof. Goose on September 23, 2007 - 10:00am
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: biodiesel, biodiversity, bioenergy, bioethanol, biofuel, biogas, biomethanol, eco-indicator 99, empa, environmental impact assessment, greenhouse gas, lca, life cycle assessment, ubp06 [list all tags]

The authors of this study are: Rainer Zah, Empa; Heinz Böni, Empa; Marcel Gauch, Empa; Roland Hischier, Empa; Martin Lehmann, Empa; Patrick Wäger, Empa

Empa, Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Science and Technology, Technology and Society Lab, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland, www.empa.ch/tsl

Executive Summary

In connection with the worsening scarcity of fossil fuels and climate change the idea of using renewable energy is attracting interest both in the Swiss public eye and in industry. Fuels made from biomass - so-called biofuels - are currently the most important form of renewable energy in road transportation and could at least over the short to medium term take on a role in reducing greenhouse gases and our dependency on fossil fuels.

In Switzerland therefore important political decisions have to be made against a background of giving a tax break for renewable fuels as opposed to diesel and petrol.

Although biofuels from renewable resources exist, a wider range of environmental impacts may result from their cultivation and processing than those from fossil fuels. These range from excessive fertilizer use and acidification of soil to a loss of biodiversity caused by clear cutting rainforest. Besides that, one should not forget that expanding agricultural energy production may lead to land use conflicts with other land uses such as food production or the conservation of natural areas. Therefore energetic efficiency and the attainable reduction in greenhouse gases should not be taken as the sole criteria for a holistic environmental evaluation of these alternative fuels.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental impacts in the whole life cycle of biofuels used in Switzerland. Firstly an action-oriented analysis of the environmental impacts of renewable energy carriers was to be developed. Secondly the objective was to draw up a "comprehensive environmental analysis" of the various biofuels, which could serve as a basis for enforcing the exemption of renewable fuels from the excise duty on diesel and petrol. In addition, the effects of using the fuel were to be compared with other ways to use bioenergy, such as heat and power generation.

Editorial note: there is a comprehensive glossary at the end of the piece, as are the references denoted [X] throughout.

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The Round-Up: July 13th 2007

Posted by Stoneleigh on July 12, 2007 - 10:19am in The Oil Drum: Canada
Topic: Miscellaneous
Tags: arctic, biodiversity, bond rating, climate change, debt crisis, derivatives, electricity, hedge funds, lng, mortgages, peak oil, risk, sovereignty, subprime loans [list all tags]

In the fields of finance and energy, there have been some remarkable developments this week, particularly with institutions that reverse their stated views, and probably their tactics and policies.

The IEA earlier released a report that said, though not in so many words, that peak oil is near. Then its CEO Claude Mandil gave an interview to Le Monde, in which he said Russia has peaked, and OPEC is not telling the truth about world oil supplies.

S&P and Moody's, Wall Street's preferred rating agencies, changed their approach to the ongoing mortgage malaise by downgrading, or threatening to downgrade, many mortgage-based investment grade bonds. This shift will be felt throughout the credit markets, and there may be much more to come. And the UK is now joining the mortgage mayhem crowd.

No such shift for NAR: they predict US home prices will rebound in 2008, though foreclosures rose 87% and a record number of ARM's will reset this fall.

Meanwhile in Canada, the sovereignty that our government seeks to defend in the Arctic is being undermined at an SPP meeting in Montebello, Quebec.


Canada flexes its muscles in scramble for the Arctic

Mr Harper's message, and the belligerent style in which it was delivered, are a sign that the Arctic, the vast ice-covered ocean around the North Pole, is hotting up - both literally, through global warming, and metaphorically as a political issue. With Canada, Denmark, Russia and the United States all having claims on the region, together with those of Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, international tension in the region is mounting.

There was no dissembling in Mr Harper's speech. "The ongoing discovery of the north's resource riches, coupled with the potential impact of climate change, has made the region a growing area of interest and concern," he said. As the statement implies, two areas of international competition lie behind the Canadian prime minister's actions. The first is that the Arctic region is rich in natural resources. It is thought to hold up to a quarter of the world's undiscovered reserves of oil and gas, which as the established fields in the Middle East and elsewhere run dry will become increasingly valuable and sought after. There are also known to be major deposits of diamonds, silver, copper, zinc and, potentially, uranium. It also has rich fish stocks.

Desire to exploit these resources has led to tensions with the US over the offshore border between Alaska and Canada, an area known as the "wedge", where one day oil and gas exploration could prove to be lucrative.

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