Biofuels - Potentials, Risks, Scenarios

Biofuels appear to be a panacea for several persistent problems: the use of rapeseed, corn or sugar beet from domestic origin for the production of biofuels allows reducing CO 2 emissions to protect climate, satisfies increasing demands of individual mobility, frees from agricultural subsidies, and grants independence from foreign commodities. Some questions, however, remain unresolved: Is the domestic arable land area sufficient to produce the required amounts of biofuels? Would a life cycle analysis of biofuels produce a sufficiently positive energy and greenhouse gas balance, or are there alternative solutions for the problems cited above? What are the consequences of the large-scale transformation of fallows into arable land for the conservation of agricultural biodiversity? Is it possible to reconcile the 2010 biofuels target of the EU with an aim to stop any further biodiversity losses? Is there a negative impact of biofuel combustion on human health? The future of mobility and transport, agricultural landscapes, energy security, and the social structure of the rural population may significantly depend on positive answers to these questions, which are strongly related to the proVISION objectives to develop sustainable ways of life. The project comprises several project modules. In the first module, the real quantitative potential of biofuel production in Austria will be assessed under four scenarios. In particular, climatic and edaphic constraints as well as ecological sensitivity of regions will be explicitly incorporated. Such criteria have been neglected to date. In the second module, a life cycle analysis of biodiesel, bioethanol, and biogas is performed using the GEMIS modelling environment. Austria-specific cultivation and production properties regarding yield, fertiliser and pesticide input, transport means and distances, and subsequent treatment processes will be assessed in their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions and energy requirements. From the results, a criteria system will be developed to decide which type of biofuels is advantageous under certain conditions. Alternatives to biofuel use are traffic avoidance, traffic relocation, and spatial planning strategies. Effects of such strategies will be compared to the potential of biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. In the third module, the impact of bioenergy cultivation on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes will be investigated in eight work packages. Two of these packages are devoted to the biodiversity at the national scale, three to the biodiversity at the landscape scale and three to the incidence of typical farmland species. In module 4, effects of increasing biofuel combustion on air quality and public health are investigated by photochemical modelling and health assessments. In module 5 of the project, results of the four other modules are aggregated and integrated into an overall statement. Besides answering the questions posed above, the project aims at defining an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of biology, landscape ecology, environmental sciences, meteorology, and medicine. Results from all modules will perpetually be communicated to students within several so-called "co-operation between research and education" workpackages. In communication projects, students and researchers study problems, solutions and their adverse side effects together.

Biofuels appear to be a panacea for several persistent problems: the use of rapeseed, corn or sugar beet from domestic origin for the production of biofuels allows reducing CO 2 emissions to protect climate, satisfies increasing demands of individual mobility, frees from agricultural subsidies, and grants independence from foreign commodities. Some questions, however, remain unresolved: Is the domestic arable land area sufficient to produce the required amounts of biofuels? Would a life cycle analysis of biofuels produce a sufficiently positive energy and greenhouse gas balance, or are there alternative solutions for the problems cited above? What are the consequences of the large-scale transformation of fallows into arable land for the conservation of agricultural biodiversity? Is it possible to reconcile the 2010 biofuels target of the EU with an aim to stop any further biodiversity losses? Is there a negative impact of biofuel combustion on human health? The future of mobility and transport, agricultural landscapes, energy security, and the social structure of the rural population may significantly depend on positive answers to these questions, which are strongly related to the proVISION objectives to develop sustainable ways of life. The project comprises several project modules. In the first module, the real quantitative potential of biofuel production in Austria will be assessed under four scenarios. In particular, climatic and edaphic constraints as well as ecological sensitivity of regions will be explicitly incorporated. Such criteria have been neglected to date. In the second module, a life cycle analysis of biodiesel, bioethanol, and biogas is performed using the GEMIS modelling environment. Austria-specific cultivation and production properties regarding yield, fertiliser and pesticide input, transport means and distances, and subsequent treatment processes will be assessed in their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions and energy requirements. From the results, a criteria system will be developed to decide which type of biofuels is advantageous under certain conditions. Alternatives to biofuel use are traffic avoidance, traffic relocation, and spatial planning strategies. Effects of such strategies will be compared to the potential of biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. In the third module, the impact of bioenergy cultivation on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes will be investigated in eight work packages. Two of these packages are devoted to the biodiversity at the national scale, three to the biodiversity at the landscape scale and three to the incidence of typical farmland species. In module 4, effects of increasing biofuel combustion on air quality and public health are investigated by photochemical modelling and health assessments. In module 5 of the project, results of the four other modules are aggregated and integrated into an overall statement. Besides answering the questions posed above, the project aims at defining an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of biology, landscape ecology, environmental sciences, meteorology, and medicine. Results from all modules will perpetually be communicated to students within several so-called "co-operation between research and education" workpackages. In communication projects, students and researchers study problems, solutions and their adverse side effects together.