Konferensartikel

Biofuel Sustainability: Relationships between the Directive 2009/28/EC and Scientific Research

Luca Spreafico
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Economics, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

Massimo Peri
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Economics, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

Ladda ner artikelhttp://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp110572570

Ingår i: World Renewable Energy Congress - Sweden; 8-13 May; 2011; Linköping; Sweden

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 57:38, s. 2570-2577

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Publicerad: 2011-11-03

ISBN: 978-91-7393-070-3

ISSN: 1650-3686 (tryckt), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

With the aim to reinforce the sustainability of biofuel production the EU directive 2009/28/EC has recently introduced a set of criteria aiming to reduce environmental effects of uncontrolled biofuel production. The criteria introduced by the directive define a procedure to compute the Green House Gases (GHG) emission of biofuel production based on the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach. Nevertheless; although this approach is quite consolidated in some production systems; it represents a novelty in the biofuel sector. Using the Strengths; Weaknesses; Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis in this paper it is compared the approach introduced by the directive with the main results emerged from a selection of papers; on the same subject; published in international journals in the last five years. The main results show as the new approach and the calculation method adopted could be a positive guideline for a better assessment of GHG emission at European level. However; some aspect could improve the efficiency of the new directive. Indirect land use change; functional unit and the involvement of other environmental impacts are some of the aspects that should be considered in order to refine the directive calculation method. Moreover; the paper highlights how it is fundamental to establish a right trade-off between LCA application and bureaucratic constraints for economic agents operating in biofuel production chain.

Nyckelord

Biofuel sustainability; Life Cycle Analysis; Directive 2009/28/EC

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