The sustainable agricultural land potential for energy crop production in Germany and Poland
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Date
2012
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach
Abstract
Description
Biomass is broadly applicable in the energy sector for
power, heat and transport, but it is strongly restricted by its availability.
If biomass is supposed to contribute to a more sustainable
energy system, its limited potential needs to be respected.
Especially energy crops are in heavy competition with food and
fiber production, nature conservation and construction activity.
This paper presents a model HEKTOR which helps to analyse the
interdependencies between these various land uses. HEKTOR is
a scenario tool that provides insight in the availability of agricultural
land for the production of energy crops under sustainability
restrictions on a national level. The model was applied to Poland
and Germany. Two scenarios are presented: A ‘business-as-usual’
scenario is compared to a ‘sustainability’ scenario. On the one
hand, the model quantifies the conflict of objectives between enhanced
extensification in agriculture and increased area for nature
conservation. On the other hand, the synergies in restricting
construction activity are assessed. Our results show that the sustainable
energy potential from energy crops is strongly restricted
for Germany compared to its energy demand whereas in Poland
domestic agricultural biomass provides a much higher potential
for energy supply, even if sustainability is comprehensively considered.
Still, strong interdependencies with other land use are
found. For energy crops to remain a sustainable option in the energy
sector, its influence on the food markets must be considered
more thoroughly and a comprehensive approach to sustainable
development in land use is a prerequisite.
Keywords
biomass, bioenergy potential, energy crops, available
agricultural area, sustainability targets
Citation
Polish Journal of Agronomy
2012, 9, 23–28