Abstract
As demonstrated for some time, the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can also take place using agroforestry biomass. Short-rotation coppice (SRC) is one of the sources of woody biomass production. In our work, the supply of woody biomass was considered by examining four different cutting shifts (2, 3, 4 and 5 years) and, for each, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) was evaluated according to the IPCC 2007 method. Regarding the rotation cycle, four biomass collection systems characterized by different levels of mechanization were analyzed and compared. In this study, it was assumed that the biomass produced by the SRC plantations was burned in a 350 kWt biomass power plant to heat a public building. The environmental impact generated by the production of 1 GJ of thermal energy was assessed for each of the forest plants examined, considering the entire life cycle, from the field phase to the energy production. The results were compared with those obtained to produce the same amount of thermal energy from a diesel boiler. Comparing the two systems analyzed, it was shown that the production and use of wood biomass to obtain thermal energy can lead to a reduction in the Global Warming Potential of over 70% compared to the use of fossil fuel.
Highlights
Given the current need for a progressive reduction in the use of fossil fuels, which are mainly responsible for CO2 emissions and pollution in the atmosphere, support for the use of woody biomass as an alternative source to produce thermal and electrical energy represents an important aspect in the discussion on the supply of energy from renewable sources
Despite the small number of observations without repetitions, which increases the margin of error, we still wanted to proceed with a statistical analysis by processing the data divided into four groups coinciding with the four cutting cycles
The use of fossil fuels for energy production has led over time to high greenhouse gas emissions
Summary
Given the current need for a progressive reduction in the use of fossil fuels, which are mainly responsible for CO2 emissions and pollution in the atmosphere, support for the use of woody biomass as an alternative source to produce thermal and electrical energy represents an important aspect in the discussion on the supply of energy from renewable sources. Bioenergy consumption is expected to grow to up to 30% of renewables due to its significant use mainly in heat generation and the transport sector [2]. The European Union supports and promotes actions aimed at achieving a more sustainable economic-energy and environmental system aimed at the progressive reduction of the use of fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy sources such as bioenergy [3]
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