Bioenergy in Switzerland: Assessing the domestic sustainable biomass potential

This paper analyzes the sustainable domestic biomass potential for bioenergy in Switzerland. Relevant biomass resources were selected based on expert interviews and literature analyses. A definition of technical and sustainable biomass potentials was developed. The technical and sustainable biomass potentials were then assessed based on technical and sustainability constraints. The sustainable potentials were further subdivided into the already energetically-used potential and the remaining biomass potential. Data was collected from the literature and supplementary interviews with field experts. Finally, the primary energy potential from biomass was calculated and compared to the current Swiss energy demand

Environmental impacts of key metals' supply and low-carbon technologies are likely to decrease in the future

The environmental benefits of low-carbon technologies, such as photovoltaic modules, have been under debate because their large-scale deployment will require a drastic increase in metal production. This is of concern because higher metal demand may induce ore grade decline and can thereby further intensify the environmental footprint of metal supply. To account for this interlinkage known as the “energy-resource nexus”, energy and metal supply scenarios need to be assessed in conjunction. We investigate the trends of future impacts of metal supplies and low-carbon technologies, considering both metal and electricity supply scenarios. We develop metal supply scenarios for copper, nickel, zinc, and lead, extending previous work. Our scenarios consider developments such as ore grade decline, energy-efficiency improvements, and secondary production shares. We also include two future electricity supply scenarios from the IMAGE model using a recently published methodology. Both scenarios are incorporated into the background database of ecoinvent to realize an integrated modeling approach, that is, future metal supply chains make use of future electricity and vice versa. We find that impacts of the modeled metal supplies and low-carbon technologies may decrease in the future. Key drivers for impact reductions are the electricity transition and increasing secondary production shares. Considering both metal and electricity scenarios has proven valuable because they drive impact reductions in different categories, namely human toxicity (up to −43%) and climate change (up to −63%), respectively. Thus, compensating for lower ore grades and reducing impacts beyond climate change requires both greener electricity and also sustainable metal supply. This article met the requirements for a Gold-Gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Quantification and Reduction Efforts in a Rural Municipality

Industrial Ecolog

Environmentally optimal wood use in Switzerland-Investigating the relevance of material cascades

Industrial Ecolog

Bioenergy in Switzerland: Assessing the domestic sustainable biomass potential

This paper analyzes the sustainable domestic biomass potential for bioenergy in Switzerland. Relevant biomass resources were selected based on expert interviews and literature analyses. A definition of technical and sustainable biomass potentials was developed. The technical and sustainable biomass potentials were then assessed based on technical and sustainability constraints. The sustainable potentials were further subdivided into the already energetically-used potential and the remaining biomass potential. Data was collected from the literature and supplementary interviews with field experts. Finally, the primary energy potential from biomass was calculated and compared to the current Swiss energy demand. We show that there is currently no sustainable potential for agricultural biomass, such as energy crops, crop residues and grass. On the other hand, there is a substantial potential from woody biomass, manure and waste biomass. The main constraints that limit the sustainable biomass potential are competing material utilizations, economic factors as well as the Swiss biofuels policy. Currently, 3.6% of Switzerland's energy demand is met by biomass resources, whereas the remaining potential could provide an additional 3.3%. Hence, with respect to a sustainable energy supply, bioenergy in Switzerland could cover a total share of 7%.Bioenergy Biomass potentials Sustainability constraints Residual and waste biomass Switzerland

Göttinger Bodenkundliche Berichte 18

Für die quantitative Aufschlüsselung der verschiedenen Stickstoff-fraktionen des Bodens bieten sich u. a. die von BREINER et al. (1,2,3,8,18) ausgearbeiteten metheden en, die auf dem Destillations- Verfahren nach Kjeldahl beruhen. Oie vorliegende Arbeit soll diese metheden einer kritischen experimentellen Prüfung und Erweiterung unterwerfen mit dem Ziel, sie für die Erfassung des jah~eezeitlichen Ganges der N-Umverteilung, des N-Haushaltes und der N-Bilanz im Boden anwendbar zu machen. Dabei soll insbesondere die methodische Kombination der chemischen fraktionierung mit der msseenspektrometrischen Analyse markierter N-Verbindungen im Vordergrund stehen.researc