Enough for all?

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Enough for all?
Biomass resource mapping under spatio-economic
constraints
Bernd Möller, Ph.D. Sustainable Energy Planning
Management Group Department of Development and
Planning Aalborg University, Denmark
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Spatial and economic constraints of biomass for
energy

• Production of photosynthetic biomass is highly
  dispersed
• Biomass consumes land area competition
• Life cycle of biomass include substitution
  effects
• CO2 neutrality only in the long run monitoring
  and maintenance of global forest carbon stocks
• Economies of scale, energy efficiency and
  competition with fossil fuels
• Sourcing in DK import vs. local supply strategies

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Global biomass is unevenly distributed
Global distribution of biomass flux in energy
units. Source Sørensen, 2001
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The geography of biomass supply
Large scale trade of biomass is just at its
commence what will the future bring?
Forest biomass (left) and population (right) are
unequally distributed in Europe, suggesting
significant problems in connecting sources and
users.
Data sources European Forest Institute 2003
Eurostat 2006
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Renewable energy in Denmark Biomass
63,4 PJ, 7.3 of prim. energy cons.
Source Energy Statistics 2005, Danish Energy
Authority.
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Resource geography and technology aspects

• Feedstock residues versus dedicated crops
• Likely impacts on nutrient balance, soil humus,
  water table, biodiversity or greenhouse gases
• Overall energy balance of energy crops can be
  poor
• Domestic energy crops lead to substitution
  effects of global commodities
• Energy technologies
• Difficult to burn or convert, learning curves
• Transport and allocation
• Biomass is unequally distributed and often
  inaccessible

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Domestic biomass potential consumption
PJ Potential (ENS) Demand (2005) Share utilised Demand (ref. 2030) Potential (Felby) Demand (IDA 2030)
Straw 55 18 32.5 27 55 25
Wood, total 40 38.3 95.8 45 40 40
Manure, biogas 40 4 9.3 6.5 40 32
Manure, fibre fract. 0 0 0.0 0 108 0
Energy crops 0 0 0.0 0 144 54
M.H.Waste 30 30 99.7 52 30 30
Sum 165 89.5 54.3 131 417 180
Source Danish Association of Engineers (IDA),
Energy Plan 2030
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Data source Energy Statistics 2007, Danish
Energy Agency
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Competing uses of residual straw and its
geographical distribution
Harvested straw 5.5 Mio tons
Straw available for energy 0.9 Mio tons
Available straw resources and competing uses
mapped using CTtools, Conterra Aps
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Bioenergy systems in Denmark
Biomass is used in decentralised district heating
and cogeneration plants (left) in centralised
plants (right) and in 20 of all buildings.
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Location, resources and economy
Distribution of biomass resources in a region
establishes transport costs and plant size For a
given location an optimal plant size can be
defined
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Wood chips in Denmark calculating spatially
explicit costs of supply
Plant location and size influence supply costs.
Möller, B. and Nielsen, P.S. (2007) Analysing
transport costs of Danish forest wood chip
resources by means of continuous cost surfaces.
Biomass Bioenergy 31 (5) 291298.
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Allocation ofbiomass to plants
Allocated straw resources
Who will have the purchasing power when resources
become scarce? Adding new demand will affect
local heat prices.
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Conclusions

• Biomass resources must be analysed as an
  integrated part of future energy systems
• Relative to regional availability (potentials
  costs)
• Including economies and efficiencies of scale
• With respect to regional allocation
• Energy crops and residual biomass can not
  necessarily be treated as any other commodity
• Eventually biomass will become as scarce as
  fossil fuels and food.

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Please visit www.energyplanning.aau.dk for
information on the international M.Sc. Programme
Sustainable Energy Planning Management at
Aalborg University