Research paperAnalyzing the potential of domestic biomass resources for the energy transition in Switzerland
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Sustainable bioenergy can play a decisive role in the transition to a renewable energy system with possible applications in electricity, heat, fuels, and compensation of fluctuant renewable energy sources [1]. Also, the efficient use of locally available biomass resources can strengthen regional and national added values [[2], [3], [4]]. Switzerland has set itself the ambitious target to optimize both material and energy use of domestic biomass resources [[5], [6], [7]]. Similar targets have been set at the European level [2,8].
Previous studies have provided valuable steps towards quantifying the overall national biomass potential on an aggregated level in many countries using various approaches: literature review and projections [[9], [10], [11], [12]], bottom-up calculations on specific biomass e.g. Refs. [13,14]. For Switzerland [15,16], such studies revealed a substantial potentiality from woody biomass, animal manure and waste biomass at national scale. However, these were literature reviews which gathered information from different studies performed at different times with different methods, making comparisons between biomass types difficult. An homogenous approach enables more accurate and comparable results. Moreover, they did not investigate the respective spatial distribution and local biomass supply security which are known to be critical issues for investors in bioenergy facilities [17]. A spatial inventory assessment is required at different geographical scales to i) allow the in-depth availability and sustainability estimation, ii) facilitate the exploitation of untapped bioenergy potentials by guiding industry and policy development strategies [18]. Although a European project has tackled these issues [19], the spatial assessment is missing for Switzerland and also for many other countries, where analyses have been made only aggregated at the national level. The absence of analysis is due to the difficulty to gather data at the regional or lower scales and the lack of methods to use the available data in a meaningful way.
With these premises, the objective here is to demonstrate a method to assess the regionalized potential of biomass for energy in Switzerland with a bottom-up approach using data at the finest available scale. This bridges the gap between previous national aggregated assessments and specific business cases, which is needed to promote biomass uses. The developed procedures can then be transferred to other countries and spatial scales according to local situations.
Section snippets
Methodology
Exploring the potential of available biomass resources provides the foundation for technology development and integrated bioenergy planning at different local, national and global level. Many approaches are possible depending on data availability and biomass type, such as surveys [20], calculations based on land cover and characteristics [21], calculations based on available national databases [13,14,22] and expert literature studies [16]. In this paper, bottom-up approaches are provided to
Results
In this chapter results of estimated theoretical, sustainable and additional domestic biomass potentials for energy generation are presented. First, the two types of biomass with the largest sustainable potentials are featured as examples (section 3.1 for animal manure and 3.2 for forest wood). Then, an overview of all biomass types is shown (section 3.3). The overall results are summarized in Table 1. A more detailed result description for the other eight biomass types is available in the
Discussion
If the total biomass potential theoretically available in Switzerland is considered, its energy content could cover one fifth of the Swiss gross energy consumptions (1108 PJ [30]). The main restrictions regarding the resources limiting the sustainable use of biomass for bioenergy are competing material utilizations (especially when cascading use with subsequent energy recovery is feasible), environmental factors, as well as scattered distribution, small scale feasibility, and economical
Conclusions
Potentials spatial distribution is highly variable between our 10 biomass types and between regions of a similar size, thus indicating a need to conceptualize energy system adhering to local conditions. The presented bottom-up GIS-based approach allows better assessments of biomass potentials as compared to previous approaches. Furthermore, it improves the consistency of such assessments at different scales and for different regions, including explicit restrictions for sustainable resource
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Swiss Innovation Agency (Innosuisse) for funding within the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research, Biomass for Swiss Energy Future (SCCER BIOSWEET) and Dr. Carl Vadenbo (ETH Zurich, Chair of Ecological Systems Design) for useful comments on the manuscript.
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