Climate-effective use of straw in the EU bioeconomy—comparing avoided and delayed emissions in the agricultural, energy and construction sectors
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15546145 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Catherine Phan-huy (0000-0003-3520-6925, ETH Zurich), Verena Göswein (0000-0002-9206-7450, ETH Zurich, corresponding author), Guillaume Habert (0000-0003-3533-7896, ETH Zurich) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 124004-124004 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-19 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ad0517 |
| OpenAlex | W4387769269 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 37 |
A transformation towards a bioeconomy is needed to reduce the environmental impacts and resource requirements of different industries. However, considering the finiteness of land and biomass, such a transition requires strategizing resource and land allocation towards activities that yield maximum environmental benefit. This paper aims to develop a resource-based comparative indicator between economic sectors to enable optimal use of biobased resources. A new methodology is proposed to analyze the climate effectiveness of using straw in the agricultural, energy and construction sectors. For this purpose, avoided and delayed emissions are analyzed for different use cases of straw and then compared. Considering only avoided emissions, the use of straw as a feedstock for bioelectricity has the highest climate effectiveness (930 kg CO 2 eq./t straw ). Considering only temporal carbon storage, straw-based insulation in buildings has the highest climate effectiveness (881 kg CO 2 eq./t straw ). Combining avoided and delayed emissions, the use of straw-based insulation has the highest climate effectiveness (1344 kg CO 2 eq./t straw ). Today EU-Policies incentives the use of straw in the agricultural sector and the energy sector, neglecting the benefit from its use in the construction sector. The results can support policymakers’ trans-sectoral incentives, where agriculture by-products are diverted towards the use of biomass that most boost economic activities and trigger maximum environmental benefit, given the local circumstances
Agricultural engineering · Agriculture · Agronomy · Biomass (ecology · Business · Economics · Greenhouse gas · Incentive · Natural resource economics · Raw material · Resource (disambiguation · Straw · Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development · Chemistry · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Impact and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Sustainable Supply Chain Management · Ecology
Emerging approaches, challenges and opportunities in life cycle assessment
Land availability in Europe for a radical shift toward bio-based construction
Greenhouse gas implications of mobilizing agricultural biomass for energy
Biogenic carbon in buildings
Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU
Nexus between nature-based solutions, ecosystem services and urban challenges
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |