Sustainability LCA of Biofuels
Extended abstract
Picture year 2015: households,
companies and other organizations all over the world turning their sewage into
biofuels instead of discharging it into environment? That would solve two
global problems at once: over-fertilization of waterways causing sea, lake and
river deaths, and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels contributing to
climate change. This vision represents cradle-to-cradle approach in which
nothing ever becomes waste but is endlessly recycled in different renewable,
harmless forms. Maybe such an idea will not be applied globally by 2015, but it
certainly seems, at least to laypeople, an ideal solution to our world's major
environmental, socio-cultural and economic problems. The feasibility of turning
sewage into biofuels needs to be put into perspective by comparing it to other
ways of producing, consuming and recycling biofuels.
Biofuels can nowadays be refined
from dozens of different plants and different kinds of waste. The most common
plants for biofuel include maize, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, soya beans,
palm oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, sugar beans, sugar roots, switchgrass
and alga. In addition, e.g. straw, wood, woodchips, forest residue and peat may
be used. Almost any kind of biodegradable waste and sludge are suitable biofuel
raw materials.
The purpose of this research is
to conduct a sustainability life cycle assessment (LCA) of different kinds of
biofuels.
Sustainability has four
dimensions: environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability. In a
sustainability life cycle assessment all four dimensions need to be evaluated.
Environmental sustainability comprises biodiversity, natural resource use, and
the effects of production, consumption and products on the environment. Social
responsibility deals with issues such as wellbeing, employment, alienation,
aging, equality, justice and participation. Cultural sustainability encompasses
values, attitudes and customs. Economic sustainability reaches from global,
national and regional to corporate and household economy issues.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is
usually defined as merely an environmental LCA (Guinee 2002, Hendrickson et al. 2006). This research takes a more holistic perspective
on LCA, allowing it to cover all aspects of sustainability. Sustainability LCA is a systematic
evaluation of the environmental, social, cultural and economic consequences of a
particular product, process, or activity from cradle to grave or, ever more
frequently, from cradle to cradle. LCAs need to cover the whole life cycle of biofuels,
starting from raw materials, production, transportation and distribution to
usage, maintenance, reuse, recycling and disposal as well as energy production
and consumption during all these stages.
As yet there is no general agreement
even of the criteria of environmental LCAs. For example the LCA section of the
first version of the Nordic Swan Ecolabel covers only greenhouse emissions and
energy use (Nordic Council of Ministers 2008). Hence, in the first part of this
research generally acceptable environmental LCA criteria for biofuels will be
compiled. The different corporate, political, civil and scientific actors will
be interviewed to collect their views and experiences of environmental LCA
criteria for biofuels. Based on this information a model of environmental LCA
criteria for biofuels will be drafted.
Comparative
LCA research in the area has focussed on comparing some biofuels to some fossil
fuels. For example, SenterNovem (2008), an agency of the Dutch Ministry of
Economic Affairs, commissioned
a biofuel LCA, which compared bioethanol from wheat to gasoline and MTBE, and
biodiesel from rapeseed to diesel. On the other hand, analyses of greenhouse
gas emissions from biofuels have been conducted (e.g. Delucchi 2006, Farrel et al. 2006, International Energy Agency 2004). In addition, Hill et al. (2006)
have made environmental, economic, and energetic cost/benefit analyses of
biodiesel and ethanol biofuels.
In conclusion, partial LCAs of a number of biofuels have
been carried out, particularly a variety of environmental LCAs, but also some
economic cost/benefit analyses. Yet a holistic sustainability LCA comparison of
biofuels made of the most common plants and wastes is still missing. This paper
demonstrates the findings of the first part of this major endeavour: generally
acceptable criteria for environmental LCAs of biofuels and a draft environmental
LCA comparison of biofuels made of the most common plants and wastes. Some of
these findings may be surprising to many researchers.
References
Delucchi, M.A. 2006. Lifecycle Analyses of Biofuels. Institute of Transportation
Studies. University of California, Davis, CA.
Farrell, A.E.,
Plevin, R.J., Turner, B.T., Jones, A.D., O'Hare, M. and Kammen, D.M. 2006.
Ethanol Can Contribute To Energy and Environmental Goals, Science 311: 506-508.
Guinee, J.B. (ed.) 2002. Handbook
on Life Cycle Assessment: Operational Guide to the ISO Standards. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht,
The Netherlands.
Hendrickson, C.T., Lester, B. and Matthews, H.S.
2006. Environmental Life Cycle
Assessment of Goods and Services. Resources for the Future, Washington, DC.
Hill,
J., Nelson, E., Tilman, D., Polasky, S. and Tiffany, D. 2006. Environmental,
economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels. PNAS, July 25: 103-132.
International Energy Agency 2004. Biofuels for
Transport. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
Paris.
Nordic Council of Ministers 2008. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel. See:
http://www.svanen.nu/Default.aspx?tabName=StartPage&menuItemID=7055
[visited 11 December 2008].
SenterNovem 2008. Participative LCA on biofuels. Rapport 2GAVE -05.08. The Ministry
of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), the Ministry of
Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water
Management, The Hague, The Netherlands.