Abstract
BackgroundRenewable energy (RE) production is a land-use driver with increasing impact on landscape configuration and a matter of controversial debate. Woody biomass cropping provides an opportunity to interlink RE supply with spatial planning goals, RE concepts and rural development programmes since it tackles several issues, ranging from climate or soil protection to over food production and income diversification as well as new and additional regional value cluster. Participatory scenario generation supported by interactive visualization tools facilitates the development of joint goals regarding local land-use decisions.MethodsBased on a stakeholder dialogue in the rural district of Göttingen, two scenarios were quantified and analysed. Reflecting a farmer-oriented economic perspective in (a) “Income first” and an integration of economic and ecological aspects in (b) “Ecological benefits”, the two scenarios address opportunities and constraints of poplar short rotation coppice (SRC) in comparison to three common crop rotations in the case study area. Suitable SRC parcels were determined by linking yield modelling results of annual reference crops and poplar SRC with ecological indicators of water-induced soil erosion and ecotone density as well as with annuity calculation and a risk assessment (stochastic dominance) based on the Monte Carlo simulation of price and yield fluctuation.ResultsSRC was economically superior (stochastically first-order dominant) to all three reference crop rotations (oilseed rape-wheat-barley; maize-wheat-maize-wheat; oilseed rape-wheat-wheat) on 1800 ha or 4.9% of the arable land. With a positive annuity difference ranging between 63 and 236€ ha−1 a−1 SRC provides an opportunity to diversify farmers’ income. The primary energy supply from the suitable land parcels accounted for 130 GWh a−1 or 8% of the RE supply in 2030 strived for by local climate protection goals. Around 50% of the 1800 ha are suitable as focal areas for a joint consideration of farmers’ income, erosion protection and structural enrichment. The related average economic trade-off on annuity differences for the gain of substantially increased ecological benefits is about 17€ ha−1 a−1 (13%).ConclusionsLinking ecological criteria assessment with dynamic investment calculation and risk evaluation in a joint methodology revealed that SRC is an economic viable alternative for renewable energy production and can provide ecological synergies in terms of erosion protection and structural enrichment. The presented methodology is transferrable and allows to visualize stakeholder-based scenarios with an agreed identification of opportunities and constraints that come with SRC on arable land. This helps to better integrate local land-use decisions with formal and informal spatial planning goals.
Highlights
Renewable energy (RE) production is a land-use driver with increasing impact on landscape configuration and a matter of controversial debate
The presented methodology is transferrable and allows to visualize stakeholder-based scenarios with an agreed identification of opportunities and constraints that come with short rotation coppice (SRC) on arable land
The “Suitable “D1” SRC areas—results for the district level” section covers the aggregated results on the district level, whereas the “Identifying synergies and trade-offs on the municipality level” section addresses the variation of results on the municipality level, and the “Identifying synergies and trade-offs on the parcel level” section focuses on synergies and trade-offs on the parcel level
Summary
Renewable energy (RE) production is a land-use driver with increasing impact on landscape configuration and a matter of controversial debate. In 2009, the European Union set the agenda to reduce greenhouse gas emission, diminish energy consumption and increase the utilization of renewable energy by 20% until 2020 in relation to the 1990 levels [1]. The goal setting in Germany was even more ambitious when ratifying a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emission and increasing the share of renewable energy consumption to 25–30% until 2020 [2]. In 2014, the European Council set the binding EU-level target to at least 27% for the share of renewable energy consumed in the EU in 2030 [3], and Germany is trying to accelerate its energy transition pathway aiming at providing 55 to 60% of the electricity consumed from renewables by the year 2035 [4]. The vast majority of wood resources for renewable energy production originates from forests, whereas lignocellulosic crop production on agricultural land occupies only a small niche with largest wood production from short rotation coppice (SRC) in the UK, Sweden and Poland [7]
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