IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v10y2016i1p29-d86396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bioenergy from Low-Intensity Agricultural Systems: An Energy Efficiency Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Oludunsin Arodudu

    (Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
    Potsdam University, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany)

  • Katharina Helming

    (Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
    Faculty of Landscape Management and Nature Conservation, University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), Schickler Strasse 5, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany)

  • Hubert Wiggering

    (Potsdam University, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany)

  • Alexey Voinov

    (ITC, Faculty of Geoinformation and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands)

Abstract

In light of possible future restrictions on the use of fossil fuel, due to climate change obligations and continuous depletion of global fossil fuel reserves, the search for alternative renewable energy sources is expected to be an issue of great concern for policy stakeholders. This study assessed the feasibility of bioenergy production under relatively low-intensity conservative, eco-agricultural settings (as opposed to those produced under high-intensity, fossil fuel based industrialized agriculture). Estimates of the net energy gain (NEG) and the energy return on energy invested (EROEI) obtained from a life cycle inventory of the energy inputs and outputs involved reveal that the energy efficiency of bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could be as much as much as 448.5–488.3 GJ·ha −1 of NEG and an EROEI of 5.4–5.9 for maize ethanol production systems, and as much as 155.0–283.9 GJ·ha −1 of NEG and an EROEI of 14.7–22.4 for maize biogas production systems. This is substantially higher than for industrialized agriculture with a NEG of 2.8–52.5 GJ·ha −1 and an EROEI of 1.2–1.7 for maize ethanol production systems, as well as a NEG of 59.3–188.7 GJ·ha −1 and an EROEI of 2.2–10.2 for maize biogas production systems. Bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could therefore be an important source of energy with immense net benefits for local and regional end-users, provided a more efficient use of the co-products is ensured.

Suggested Citation

  • Oludunsin Arodudu & Katharina Helming & Hubert Wiggering & Alexey Voinov, 2016. "Bioenergy from Low-Intensity Agricultural Systems: An Energy Efficiency Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2016:i:1:p:29-:d:86396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/1/29/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/1/29/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandre Poisson & Charles A. S. Hall, 2013. "Time Series EROI for Canadian Oil and Gas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Miguel A Altieri & Clara I Nicholls, 2008. "Scaling up Agroecological Approaches for Food Sovereignty in Latin America," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 51(4), pages 472-480, December.
    3. Lan Ge & Michiel van Galen & Marcel van Asseldonk & Jos Verstegen & Marc Ruijs & Olaf Hietbrink & Madeleine van Mansfeld & Peter Smeets & Arjen Simons, 2011. "The nature of agroparks: synergy versus risk," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 509-523, September.
    4. Nathan Gagnon & Charles A.S. Hall & Lysle Brinker, 2009. "A Preliminary Investigation of Energy Return on Energy Investment for Global Oil and Gas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-14, July.
    5. Lambert, Jessica G. & Hall, Charles A.S. & Balogh, Stephen & Gupta, Ajay & Arnold, Michelle, 2014. "Energy, EROI and quality of life," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 153-167.
    6. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Koizumi, Tatsuji, 2013. "Biofuel and food security in China and Japan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 102-109.
    8. Dincer, Ibrahim, 1999. "Environmental impacts of energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(14), pages 845-854, December.
    9. Charles A. S. Hall & Stephen Balogh & David J.R. Murphy, 2009. "What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    10. Duncan Graham-Rowe, 2011. "Agriculture: Beyond food versus fuel," Nature, Nature, vol. 474(7352), pages 6-8, June.
    11. Jennifer Blesh & Steven Wolf, 2014. "Transitions to agroecological farming systems in the Mississippi River Basin: toward an integrated socioecological analysis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(4), pages 621-635, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kai Whiting & Luis Gabriel Carmona & Angeles Carrasco & Tânia Sousa, 2017. "Exergy Replacement Cost of Fossil Fuels: Closing the Carbon Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-21, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lina I. Brand-Correa & Paul E. Brockway & Claire L. Copeland & Timothy J. Foxon & Anne Owen & Peter G. Taylor, 2017. "Developing an Input-Output Based Method to Estimate a National-Level Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Jonathan Dumas & Antoine Dubois & Paolo Thiran & Pierre Jacques & Francesco Contino & Bertrand Cornélusse & Gauthier Limpens, 2022. "The Energy Return on Investment of Whole-Energy Systems: Application to Belgium," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Charles Guay-Boutet, 2023. "Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Elise Dupont & Marc Germain & Hervé Jeanmart, 2021. "Estimate of the Societal Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    6. Jackson, Andrew & Jackson, Tim, 2021. "Modelling energy transition risk: The impact of declining energy return on investment (EROI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Salehi, Mohammad & Khajehpour, Hossein & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2020. "Extended Energy Return on Investment of multiproduct energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. Feng, Jingxuan & Feng, Lianyong & Wang, Jianliang & King, Carey W., 2018. "Modeling the point of use EROI and its implications for economic growth in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 232-242.
    9. Bo Xu & Lianyong Feng & William X. Wei & Yan Hu & Jianliang Wang, 2014. "A Preliminary Forecast of the Production Status of China’s Daqing Oil field from the Perspective of EROI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-21, November.
    10. Carlos de Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2020. "Standard, Point of Use, and Extended Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) from Comprehensive Material Requirements of Present Global Wind, Solar, and Hydro Power Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-43, June.
    11. Ke Wang & Harrie Vredenburg & Jianliang Wang & Yi Xiong & Lianyong Feng, 2017. "Energy Return on Investment of Canadian Oil Sands Extraction from 2009 to 2015," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
    12. Court, Victor & Fizaine, Florian, 2017. "Long-Term Estimates of the Energy-Return-on-Investment (EROI) of Coal, Oil, and Gas Global Productions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 145-159.
    13. Heun, Matthew Kuperus & Owen, Anne & Brockway, Paul E., 2018. "A physical supply-use table framework for energy analysis on the energy conversion chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 1134-1162.
    14. Hall, Charles A.S. & Lambert, Jessica G. & Balogh, Stephen B., 2014. "EROI of different fuels and the implications for society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    15. Chen, Yingchao & Feng, Lianyong & Wang, Jianliang & Höök, Mikael, 2017. "Emergy-based energy return on investment method for evaluating energy exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 540-549.
    16. David Grassian & Daniel Olsen, 2019. "Lifecycle Energy Accounting of Three Small Offshore Oil Fields," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-23, July.
    17. Jingxuan Feng & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang, 2018. "Analysis of Point-of-Use Energy Return on Investment and Net Energy Yields from China’s Conventional Fossil Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
    18. Adrien Fabre, 2018. "Evolution of EROIs of Electricity Until 2050: Estimation Using the Input-Output Model THEMIS," Policy Papers 2018.09, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    19. Victor Court & Florian Fizaine, 2015. "Estimations of very long-term time series of global energy return-on-investment (EROI) of coal, oil and gas productions," Working Papers 1510, Chaire Economie du climat.
    20. Florian Fizaine & Victor Court, 2016. "The energy-economic growth relationship: a new insight from the EROI perspective," Working Papers 1601, Chaire Economie du climat.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2016:i:1:p:29-:d:86396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.