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Economic, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 6523

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jacopo Bacenetti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, 20122 Milano, MI, Italy
Interests: agricultural machinery; agrofood productions; life cycle assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Michele Costantini

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
Interests: life cycle assessment; sustainability evaluation; agricultural systems; social LCA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The interest in the use of biomass for renewable energy production is steadily increasing due to the environmental and energy independence concerns. Sustainability assessment of renewable energy technologies should certainly include analysis of environmental impact. However, to encourage environmentally sustainable bioenergy strategies, the analytic evaluation of the economic and social performance of the different bioenergy solutions is needed.

We invite researchers to contribute with original research articles, as well as review articles, to this Special Issue. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the economic (LCC), environmental (LCA) and social assessment (SLCA) of:

  1. Woody biomass,
  2. Herbaceous biomass,
  3. Agricultural by-products and waste valorisation,
  4. Anaerobic digestion of waste and agricultural feedstocks,
  5. Biogas and biomethane production and utilization,
  6. Renewable energies in agriculture,
  7. Biofuels,
  8. Biorefinery,
  9. Novel biobased products.
  10. Innovative solutions for organic waste valorisation

Dr. Bacenetti Jacopo
Dr. Michele Costantini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Biomass
  • Renewable Energy
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Life Cycle Cost and Social Life Cycle Assessment
  • Circular Economy
  • Sustainability

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 3280 KiB  
Article
Sustainability Assessment of Solid Biofuels from Agro-Industrial Residues Case of Sugarcane Bagasse in a Mexican Sugar Mill
by Fabio L. Manzini Poli, Jorge M. Islas-Samperio, Carlos A. García Bustamante, Julio C. Sacramento Rivero, Genice K. Grande-Acosta, Rosa M. Gallardo-Álvarez, Ricardo Musule Lagunes, Freddy Navarro Pineda and Christian Alvarez Escobedo
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1711; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031711 - 01 Feb 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2228
Abstract
Motivated by the environmentally driven energy transition we live in, the valorization of biomass residues from the agro-industry as renewable energy can play an essential role in GHG emissions mitigation. To overcome the debate on the production and use of solid biofuels (SBF), [...] Read more.
Motivated by the environmentally driven energy transition we live in, the valorization of biomass residues from the agro-industry as renewable energy can play an essential role in GHG emissions mitigation. To overcome the debate on the production and use of solid biofuels (SBF), in this study, we apply an integrated multicriteria tool for the assessment of the sustainability use of agro-industrial residues (AIR) as solid biofuels. Mexico has a vast AIR production, but frequently, the AIR are considered waste biomass. Still, when valorized, SBF do not have adverse effects on soil quality, are not responsible for biodiversity loss, and compete against food production as first-generation SBF. Nevertheless, the AIR present other environmental, social, and economic impacts that have not been adequately evaluated; therefore, we identified the need for a sustainability assessment of energy systems based on the use of SBF–AIR as input fuels. After reviewing previous work on sustainability assessment methodologies, multicriteria decision analysis methods, and indicator weighting methods, we considered it appropriate for this problem to apply a tool that integrates the entropic indicator weighting method into the discrete multicriteria decision analysis method called PROMETHEE. In terms of selected sustainability indicators, this tool was used to assess four electric energy supply systems of a Mexican sugar mill as a case study: current bagasse cogeneration, efficient bagasse cogeneration, a power generation system fueled only with fuel oil, and grid electricity only. Finally, after evaluating the mentioned energy systems with four sustainability indicators: GHG emissions, PM emissions, employments per energy unit (JOBS), and the net present value (NPV) of each alternative, we found the net outranking flow of the efficient bagasse system (EBS). which is the most sustainable system because it has the highest outranking flow value from the four considered alternatives, since it has the lower GHG emissions, reducing the current bagasse GHG emissions by 55% and the PM emissions by 58%. The EBS also shows the highest NPV system due to surplus electricity sales, resulting in the most profitable energy system analyzed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass)
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20 pages, 1423 KiB  
Article
Biogas as a Transport Fuel—A System Analysis of Value Chain Development in a Swedish Context
by Muhammad Arfan, Zhao Wang, Shveta Soam and Ola Eriksson
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4560; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084560 - 20 Apr 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3339
Abstract
Biofuels policy instruments are important in the development and diffusion of biogas as a transport fuel in Sweden. Their effectiveness with links to geodemographic conditions has not been analysed systematically in studying biogas development in a less urbanised regions, with high potential and [...] Read more.
Biofuels policy instruments are important in the development and diffusion of biogas as a transport fuel in Sweden. Their effectiveness with links to geodemographic conditions has not been analysed systematically in studying biogas development in a less urbanised regions, with high potential and primitive gas infrastructure. One such region identified is Gävleborg in Sweden. By using value chain statistics, interviews with related actors, and studying biofuels policy instruments and implications for biogas development, it is found that the policy measures have not been as effective in the region as in the rest of Sweden due to different geodemographic characteristics of the region, which has resulted in impeded biogas development. In addition to factors found in previous studies, the less-developed biogas value chain in this region can be attributed particularly to undefined rules of the game, which is lack of consensus on trade-off of resources and services, unnecessary competition among several fuel alternatives, as well as the ambiguity of municipalities’ prioritization, and regional cultural differences. To strengthen the regional biogas sector, system actors need a strategy to eliminate blocking effects of identified local factors, and national policy instruments should provide mechanisms to process geographical conditions in regulatory, economic support, and market formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass)
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