Fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, including soil carbon effects, of producing agriculture and forestry feedstocks

Abstract

The GHG emissions and fossil energy consumption associated with producing potential biomass sup­ply in the select BT16 scenarios include emissions and energy consumption from biomass production, harvest/collection, transport, and pre-processing activities to the reactor throat. Emissions associated with energy, fertilizers, and agricultural chemicals that are consumed in biomass production are also included. Energy consumption and emissions for bio­mass logistics are considered only for biomass with delivered costs below $100 per dry ton. The contribu­tion of changes in SOC to GHG emissions as a result of producing agricultural biomass is also considered. Changes in forestry soil carbon are not analyzed because the land area in forestry stayed constant and no major forestry land management changes were considered. However, a review of potential impacts of using forest biomass as a bioenergy feedstock on soil carbon is discussed. This analysis indicates potential GHG-emissions hotspots from producing biomass and illuminates drivers for these emissions, which can inform efforts to reduce the GHG emis­sions and energy consumption of biomass-derived fuels, products, and power.

Citation

Canter, Christina E.; Qin, Zhangcai; Cai, Hao; Dunn, Jennifer B.; Wang, Michael; Scott, D. Andrew. 2017. Fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, including soil carbon effects, of producing agriculture and forestry feedstocks. Chapter 4. In: Efroymson, R.A.; Langholtz, M.H.; Johnson, K.E.; Stokes, B.J., eds. 2016 billion-ton report: Advancing domestic resources for a thriving bioeconomy. Volume 2: Environmental sustainability effects of select scenarios from volume 1. ORNL/TM-2016/727. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory: 85-137.