08.04.2014
Straw-to-soil or straw-to-energy? An optimal trade off in a long-term sustainability perspective
Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen.
Abstarct: According to the EU regulatory framework on biofuels, no GHG emissions should be assigned to residues when they are used for energy. This “neutral” assumption related to crop residues can be considered a rough simplification. Crop residues should not be viewed simply as a waste because they play a critical role in sustaining soil organic matter and have an inherent C-sequestration value. Given this relevance, it is advisable to include all possible marginaleffects related to land use, resource utilization and management changes in the comparison of different biomass options. An expanded life cycle assessment (LCA) was therefore applied to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions estimate to include the upstream cultivation phase and to make a comparison between “straw to soil” and “straw to energy”. This analysis was carried out in the frame of STAR*AgroEnergy, a FP7 European project.