IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i18p7731-d415588.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential Bioenergy Production from Miscanthus × giganteus in Brandenburg: Producing Bioenergy and Fostering Other Ecosystem Services while Ensuring Food Self-Sufficiency in the Berlin-Brandenburg Region

Author

Listed:
  • Ehsan Tavakoli-Hashjini

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V., 15374 Müncheberg, Germany)

  • Annette Piorr

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V., 15374 Müncheberg, Germany)

  • Klaus Müller

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V., 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
    Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

  • José Luis Vicente-Vicente

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V., 15374 Müncheberg, Germany)

Abstract

Miscanthus × giganteus (hereafter Miscanthus ) is a perennial crop characterized by its high biomass production, low nutrient requirements, its ability for soil restoration, and its cultivation potential on marginal land. The development of the bioenergy sector in the state of Brandenburg (Germany), with maize as the dominant crop, has recently drawn attention to its negative environmental impacts, competition with food production, and uncertainties regarding its further development toward the state’s bioenergy targets. This study aimed to estimate the potential bioenergy production in Brandenburg by cultivating Miscanthus only on marginal land, thereby avoiding competition with food production in the Berlin-Brandenburg city-region (i.e., foodshed), after using the Metropolitan Foodshed and Self-sufficiency Scenario (MFSS) model. We estimated that by 2030, the Berlin-Brandenburg foodshed would require around 1.13 million hectares to achieve 100% food self-sufficiency under the business as usual (BAU) scenario, and hence there would be around 390,000 ha land left for bioenergy production. Our results suggest that the region would require about 569,000 ha of land of maize to generate 58 PJ—the bioenergy target of the state of Brandenburg for 2030—which is almost 179,000 ha more than the available area for bioenergy production. However, under Miscanthus plantation, the required area would be reduced by 2.5 times to 232,000 ha. Therefore, Miscanthus could enable Brandenburg to meet its bioenergy target by 2030, while at the same time avoiding the trade-offs with food production, and also providing a potential for soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration of around 255,200 t C yr-1, leading to an improvement in the soil fertility and other ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity), compared with bioenergy generated from maize.

Suggested Citation

  • Ehsan Tavakoli-Hashjini & Annette Piorr & Klaus Müller & José Luis Vicente-Vicente, 2020. "Potential Bioenergy Production from Miscanthus × giganteus in Brandenburg: Producing Bioenergy and Fostering Other Ecosystem Services while Ensuring Food Self-Sufficiency in the Berlin-Brandenburg Reg," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7731-:d:415588
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7731/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7731/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xue, Shuai & Lewandowski, Iris & Wang, Xiaoyu & Yi, Zili, 2016. "Assessment of the production potentials of Miscanthus on marginal land in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 932-943.
    2. Grundmann, Philipp & Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich & Uckert, Götz, 2012. "Responses of agricultural bioenergy sectors in Brandenburg (Germany) to climate, economic and legal changes: An application of Holling's adaptive cycle," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 118-129.
    3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, 2008. "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report," Working Papers id:1325, eSocialSciences.
    4. Zhuang, Dafang & Jiang, Dong & Liu, Lei & Huang, Yaohuan, 2011. "Assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal land in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1050-1056, February.
    5. Susanne Theuerl & Christiane Herrmann & Monika Heiermann & Philipp Grundmann & Niels Landwehr & Ulrich Kreidenweis & Annette Prochnow, 2019. "The Future Agricultural Biogas Plant in Germany: A Vision," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-32, January.
    6. Havlík, Petr & Schneider, Uwe A. & Schmid, Erwin & Böttcher, Hannes & Fritz, Steffen & Skalský, Rastislav & Aoki, Kentaro & Cara, Stéphane De & Kindermann, Georg & Kraxner, Florian & Leduc, Sylvain & , 2011. "Global land-use implications of first and second generation biofuel targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 5690-5702, October.
    7. Naik, S.N. & Goud, Vaibhav V. & Rout, Prasant K. & Dalai, Ajay K., 2010. "Production of first and second generation biofuels: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 578-597, February.
    8. Clancy, Kate & Ruhf, Kathryn, 2010. "Is Local Enough? Some Arguments for Regional Food Systems," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-5.
    9. Felten, Daniel & Fröba, Norbert & Fries, Jérôme & Emmerling, Christoph, 2013. "Energy balances and greenhouse gas-mitigation potentials of bioenergy cropping systems (Miscanthus, rapeseed, and maize) based on farming conditions in Western Germany," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 160-174.
    10. Winkler, Bastian & Mangold, Anja & von Cossel, Moritz & Clifton-Brown, John & Pogrzeba, Marta & Lewandowski, Iris & Iqbal, Yasir & Kiesel, Andreas, 2020. "Implementing miscanthus into farming systems: A review of agronomic practices, capital and labour demand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    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. José Luis Vicente-Vicente & Esther Sanz-Sanz & Claude Napoléone & Michel Moulery & Annette Piorr, 2021. "Foodshed, Agricultural Diversification and Self-Sufficiency Assessment: Beyond the Isotropic Circle Foodshed—A Case Study from Avignon (France)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, February.

    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. Weng, Yuwei & Chang, Shiyan & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2019. "Exploring the impacts of biofuel expansion on land use change and food security based on a land explicit CGE model: A case study of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 514-525.
    2. Kargbo, Hannah & Harris, Jonathan Stuart & Phan, Anh N., 2021. "“Drop-in” fuel production from biomass: Critical review on techno-economic feasibility and sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Jiang, Dong & Wang, Qian & Ding, Fangyu & Fu, Jingying & Hao, Mengmeng, 2019. "Potential marginal land resources of cassava worldwide: A data-driven analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 167-173.
    4. Evgeny Chupakhin & Olga Babich & Stanislav Sukhikh & Svetlana Ivanova & Ekaterina Budenkova & Olga Kalashnikova & Olga Kriger, 2021. "Methods of Increasing Miscanthus Biomass Yield for Biofuel Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-30, December.
    5. Bengtsson, Selma & Fridell, Erik & Andersson, Karin, 2012. "Environmental assessment of two pathways towards the use of biofuels in shipping," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 451-463.
    6. Kang, Yating & Yang, Qing & Bartocci, Pietro & Wei, Hongjian & Liu, Sylvia Shuhan & Wu, Zhujuan & Zhou, Hewen & Yang, Haiping & Fantozzi, Francesco & Chen, Hanping, 2020. "Bioenergy in China: Evaluation of domestic biomass resources and the associated greenhouse gas mitigation potentials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    7. repec:zbw:inwedp:512011 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Mellor, P. & Lord, R.A. & João, E. & Thomas, R. & Hursthouse, A., 2021. "Identifying non-agricultural marginal lands as a route to sustainable bioenergy provision - A review and holistic definition," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    9. Liu, Tingting & McConkey, Brian & Huffman, Ted & Smith, Stephen & MacGregor, Bob & Yemshanov, Denys & Kulshreshtha, Suren, 2014. "Potential and impacts of renewable energy production from agricultural biomass in Canada," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 222-229.
    10. Janda, Karel & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Zilberman, David, "undated". "Biofuels: review of policies and impacts," CUDARE Working Papers 120415, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    11. Bernhard Stürmer & Johannes Schmidt & Erwin Schmid & Franz Sinabell, 2011. "A Modeling Framework for the Analysis of Biomass Production in a Land Constrained Economy. The Example of Austria," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41748, December.
    12. Kesheng Shu & Uwe A. Schneider & Jürgen Scheffran, 2015. "Bioenergy and Food Supply: A Spatial-Agent Dynamic Model of Agricultural Land Use for Jiangsu Province in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-24, November.
    13. Ben Zhang & Jie Yang & Yinxia Cao, 2021. "Assessing Potential Bioenergy Production on Urban Marginal Land in 20 Major Cities of China by the Use of Multi-View High-Resolution Remote Sensing Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Long, Huiling & Li, Xiaobing & Wang, Hong & Jia, Jingdun, 2013. "Biomass resources and their bioenergy potential estimation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 344-352.
    15. Susanne Theuerl & Christiane Herrmann & Monika Heiermann & Philipp Grundmann & Niels Landwehr & Ulrich Kreidenweis & Annette Prochnow, 2019. "The Future Agricultural Biogas Plant in Germany: A Vision," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-32, January.
    16. Winkler, Bastian & Mangold, Anja & von Cossel, Moritz & Clifton-Brown, John & Pogrzeba, Marta & Lewandowski, Iris & Iqbal, Yasir & Kiesel, Andreas, 2020. "Implementing miscanthus into farming systems: A review of agronomic practices, capital and labour demand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. Qin, Zhangcai & Zhuang, Qianlai & Cai, Ximing & He, Yujie & Huang, Yao & Jiang, Dong & Lin, Erda & Liu, Yaling & Tang, Ya & Wang, Michael Q., 2018. "Biomass and biofuels in China: Toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2387-2400.
    18. Correa, Diego F. & Beyer, Hawthorne L. & Possingham, Hugh P. & Fargione, Joseph E. & Hill, Jason D. & Schenk, Peer M., 2021. "Microalgal biofuel production at national scales: Reducing conflicts with agricultural lands and biodiversity within countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    19. Nie, Yaoyu & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can & Huang, Guorui & Ding, Qun & Yu, Le & Li, Haoran & Ji, Duoying, 2019. "Assessment of the potential and distribution of an energy crop at 1-km resolution from 2010 to 2100 in China – The case of sweet sorghum," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 395-407.
    20. Yan, Dan & Liu, Litao & Li, Jinkai & Wu, Jiaqian & Qin, Wei & Werners, Saskia E., 2021. "Are the planning targets of liquid biofuel development achievable in China under climate change?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    21. Yuchen Guo & Wei Song, 2019. "Spatial Distribution and Simulation of Cropland Abandonment in Wushan County, Chongqing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, March.

    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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7731-:d:415588. 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.