IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i23p16430-d1290956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Energy Prospects of Electricity Generated from Short-Rotation Woody Crops—Quantifying the EROIg of Bioelectricity

Author

Listed:
  • Jessica Daaboul

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University Clayton Campus, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Patrick Moriarty

    (Department of Design, Monash University Caulfield Campus, Melbourne, VIC 3145, Australia)

  • Damon Honnery

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University Clayton Campus, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia)

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report (AR6) allocates 15% to 43% of global primary energy to biomass in 2050 across multiple mitigation scenarios. The report also emphasizes the importance of electrification. For increased reliance on electricity and on biomass, bioelectricity is expected to play a major role. It is therefore vital to know whether the energy generation potential of biomass electricity can support the removal of its environmental impact, particularly as generation at large scale is expected to rely almost solely on energy crops. This paper evaluates the potential of short-rotation woody crops in generating green electricity. This is performed using the “Green Energy Return on Investment (EROIg)” methodology, which indicates the net energy generated after investing in ecosystem maintenance energy (ESME). This study found that the EROIg of bioelectricity is marginally larger than unity when converted to its primary equivalent form (EROIg -PE ). Three design options were proposed to improve bioenergy’s EROIg. Among these options, pelletizing wood chips has the largest advantage with an EROIg of 1.11 and an EROIg -PE of 3.17. We conclude with a discussion of the indirect advantages of growing energy crops, and discuss how this technique can be used alongside others to help generate cleaner energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica Daaboul & Patrick Moriarty & Damon Honnery, 2023. "Green Energy Prospects of Electricity Generated from Short-Rotation Woody Crops—Quantifying the EROIg of Bioelectricity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-20, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16430-:d:1290956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16430/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16430/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabre, Adrien, 2019. "Evolution of EROIs of electricity until 2050: Estimation and implications on prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Raugei, Marco & Fullana-i-Palmer, Pere & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2012. "The energy return on energy investment (EROI) of photovoltaics: Methodology and comparisons with fossil fuel life cycles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 576-582.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Liu, Feng & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2020. "Differences in CO2 emissions of solar PV production among technologies and regions: Application to China, EU and USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Hong, Sanghyun & Kim, Eunsung & Jeong, Saerok, 2023. "Evaluating the sustainability of the hydrogen economy using multi-criteria decision-making analysis in Korea," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 485-492.
    3. Enrica Leccisi & Marco Raugei & Vasilis Fthenakis, 2016. "The Energy and Environmental Performance of Ground-Mounted Photovoltaic Systems—A Timely Update," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Zhaoyang Kong & Xiucheng Dong & Bo Xu & Rui Li & Qiang Yin & Cuifang Song, 2015. "EROI Analysis for Direct Coal Liquefaction without and with CCS: The Case of the Shenhua DCL Project in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Thopil, George Alex & Sachse, Christiaan Eddie & Lalk, Jörg & Thopil, Miriam Sara, 2020. "Techno-economic performance comparison of crystalline and thin film PV panels under varying meteorological conditions: A high solar resource southern hemisphere case," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Ron Swenson, 2016. "The Solarevolution: Much More with Way Less, Right Now—The Disruptive Shift to Renewables," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Jacques, Pierre & Delannoy, Louis & Andrieu, Baptiste & Yilmaz, Devrim & Jeanmart, Hervé & Godin, Antoine, 2023. "Assessing the economic consequences of an energy transition through a biophysical stock-flow consistent model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    8. Good, Clara, 2016. "Environmental impact assessments of hybrid photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) systems – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 234-239.
    9. Suopajärvi, Hannu & Pongrácz, Eva & Fabritius, Timo, 2013. "The potential of using biomass-based reducing agents in the blast furnace: A review of thermochemical conversion technologies and assessments related to sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 511-528.
    10. 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.
    11. Hongshuo Yan & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang & Yuanying Chi & Yue Ma, 2021. "A Comprehensive Net Energy Analysis and Outlook of Energy System in China," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Trainer, Ted, 2013. "Can Europe run on renewable energy? A negative case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 845-850.
    13. Jackson, Andrew & Jackson, Tim, 2021. "Modelling energy transition risk: The impact of declining energy return on investment (EROI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    14. Colla, Martin & Ioannou, Anastasia & Falcone, Gioia, 2020. "Critical review of competitiveness indicators for energy projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Carey W. King, 2015. "Comparing World Economic and Net Energy Metrics, Part 3: Macroeconomic Historical and Future Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-24, November.
    16. Ana García-Garre & Antonio Gabaldón & Carlos Álvarez-Bel & María Del Carmen Ruiz-Abellón & Antonio Guillamón, 2018. "Integration of Demand Response and Photovoltaic Resources in Residential Segments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-31, August.
    17. Nicholls, A. & Sharma, R. & Saha, T.K., 2015. "Financial and environmental analysis of rooftop photovoltaic installations with battery storage in Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 252-264.
    18. 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.
    19. Aljoša Slameršak & Giorgos Kallis & Daniel W. O’Neill, 2022. "Energy requirements and carbon emissions for a low-carbon energy transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Pickard, William F., 2013. "Transporting the terajoules: Efficient energy distribution in a post-carbon world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 51-61.

    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:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16430-:d:1290956. 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.