Sustainability analysis of carbon dioxide emissions on combustion of biomass for electricity

Abstract

The transition towards renewable, low-carbon energy is a fundamental element of climate change mitigation. Many countries around the world have set their decarbonization strategies to reduce emissions. The European Union has already declared bioenergy to be carbon-neutral, which has prompted other countries to expand their production. Bioenergy can only reduce atmospheric CO2 over time through post-harvest increases in net primary production (NPP), defined as the rate at which all the autotrophs in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy using inorganic substances, such as CO2. Therefore, the climate impact of bioenergy depends on CO2 emissions from the combustion of biomass, the fate of the harvested land, and the dynamics of NPP. This study uses the dynamic bioenergy lifecycle analysis model, which tracks the carbon stocks and fluxes in the atmosphere, biomass, soils, and oceans. The model is used to simulate the substitution of coal for wood in electric power generation, estimating the parameters governing NPP and other fluxes using data for the Canadian boreal forest. Our dynamic analysis revealed that the first impact of displacing coal with wood is an immediate increase in the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. [...]