Status of the Implementation of Biofuels and Bioenergy Certification Systems

Biofuels certification is a response to the concerns related to the biofuels sustainability. There are several existing certification schemes related to sustainability in other fields, varying considerably in scope, as were developed for a wide range of products as a result of various concerns (Van Dam et al., 2007, BTG, 2008). Some systems cover one of the areas in biomass production, such as agriculture, forest and fair trade. They provide insight into the structures of certification systems (design, implementation constraints, cost-benefits¿) as well as operational experience and effectiveness. Some schemes include sustainability criteria that could be adapted for bioenergy and biofuels certification, and provide a useful experience for the development of a biofuels certification scheme, or for benchmarking. The report analyses the status of implementation of several European and Non-European certification schemes in connection with the EU current legislative framework. Several of these schemes are undergoing the recognition process, but none of them has been already recognized at the moment.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Heat and Power from Biomass: Technology development report

This Heat and Power from Biomass Technology Development Report 2018 presents an assessment of the state of the art, development trends, targets and needs, technological barriers, as well as techno-economic projections until 2050. Particular attention is paid to how EC funded projects contributed to technology advancements. It includes an overview of Member States' activities based on information from the relevant SET Plan Temporary Working Groups as well as the objectives and main outcomes of the most relevant international programmes.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Workshop Data Gathering on Renewable Energies for New Member States and Candidate Countries

The present Proceedings include the presentations made at the Workshop Data Gathering on Renewable Energies for New Member States and Candidate Countries, which was held on 15-16 November 2006 in Cavtat-Dubrovnik, Croatia. The workshop was organised by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission - Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Renewable Energies Unit Action: Scientific Technical Reference System on Renewable Energy and Energy End-use Efficiency, in cooperation with the Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar, Croatia. The primary aim of workshop was the collection of the data on the latest achievements in the field of Renewable Energy in the New Member States and Candidate Countries. The governmental and institutional specialists and scientists in the field of sustainable energy development presented the latest information and on RES development at EU level and market developments in their own countries. The presence, for the first time of the specialists from West Balkan Countries at a workshop organised by JRC for RES was an important extra added value. The key note speeches of the experts from European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and International Energy Agency (IEA) provided a general view on the latest data on the trends and developments of RES at international level. The completeness of presentations, the wealth of newest, updated and complementary information on RES brought together by the workshop participants, contributed to the achievements of the meeting objectives and represents a great success.JRC.H.8-Renewable energie

Snapshots of renewable energy developments in the European Union. Status in 2010 and progress in comparison with National Renewable Energy Action Plans.

This report presents a snapshot of the use of renewable energy in the European Union in 2010, the progress and the deviations from the targets set in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans. The report describe the developments in the overall contribution of renewable energy in each Member State since 2005 according to their first Progress Reports, the progress made in the use of each renewable energy source and their share in heating and cooling, electricity and in transport sector.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Renewable Energy Progress in EU 27 (2005-2020)

The report present the combined analysis of EU 27 National Renewable Energy Action Plans and Progress Reports to identify the 2005-2010 and 2010-2020 trends of the renewable energy development in three main sectors: Electricity, Heating/Cooling and Transport. The planned development of these sectors and each renewable technology in EU 27 is compared with the actual development achieved in the same time span and the expected trend to reach 2020 target is compared with the planned one.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Renewable Energy Development in EU 27 (2009-2010)

The present report is an analysis of the state of the art in the development of renewable energy by each technology and Member State for years 2009 and 2010. The report presents a comparative analysis with expected achievements and indicative interim trajectory provided by National Renewable Energy Action Plans and Progress Reports for year 2010.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Tracking the Biogenic Component of Lower-Carbon Intensive, Co-Processed Fuels—An Overview of Existing Approaches

Several methods are currently used to track the bio-component of co-processed fuels including energy/mass balance, yield methods and radiocarbon techniques. The methods used to track or estimate the bio-component of fuels produced when bio and fossil feedstocks are processed together (co-processed) in oil refineries were analysed in detail, together with their advantages and disadvantages. Some methods, such as radiocarbon methods that allow the direct measurement of the bio-content in a fuel, have been criticised due to low accuracy at low blends. However, these reservations have tended to misinterpret the options available for carbon dating and to discount recent improvements in these tests. As much higher co-pressing mixtures are anticipated if published national decarbonisation targets are to be achieved, any challenges at very low co-processing ratios affecting the accuracy of the radiocarbon methods should not be an issue. Energy/mass balance and yield methods might be supplemented with carbon-tracking to determine the real the biogenic content

The Effects of Increased Demand for Biofuels Feedstocks on the World Agricultural Markets and Areas - Outcomes of a Workshop 10-11 February 2010, Ispra (Italy)

This study is performed under request of DG CLIMA, in support to the preparation of the policy proposal on the assessment of the effects of Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC). Agro-economic models are used to provide estimates of how much cropland area increases in response to an increase in crop demand, but they often differ in their structure (i.e. partial or full equilibrium, agro-economic, bioenergy and biophysical models etc), in the input parameters, baseline and scenarios studied. The European Commission (EC) is debating internally how to address ILUC emissions in biofuels legislation. Legislators need to understand how ILUC differs between biofuels from different feedstocks and regions. In fact, if ILUC emissions are to be added to direct emissions in legislation, they need to be quantitatively assessed for all biofuels/feedstocks. Anyway, to compare model results it is necessary at least to compare the results vs. baseline per unit quantity of biofuel. For these reasons the JRC proposed to carry out a survey of marginal calculations from various models/methods developed by the relevant consortia in EU and US, to compare results from marginal shocks along the lines of recommended common scenarios discussed with the involved experts: A marginal extra ethanol demand in EU B marginal extra biodiesel demand in EU C marginal extra ethanol demand in US D marginal extra palm oil demand in EU (for biodiesel or pure plant oil use) For modelling the GHG efficiency of different feedstock, the experts agreed that the extra biofuels scenarios should optimally be marginal increases in demand for different biofuels-feedstock in different regions. These results would be relatively easy to compare between scenarios. Results of this survey were discussed during a workshop organized by the JRC in Ispra on 10th and 11th of February 2010, and this report presents the outcomes of the workshop, highlighting the main results of the studies and key points raised in the concluding discussion.JRC.DDG.F.8-Renewable Energy (Ispra

SNAPSHOT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE EU-28 Volume 2

This report presents a snapshot of the current state of renewable energy development in the European Union and the progress expected by 2020, as forecasted in the Member States’ national renewable energy action plans. The report compares the progress achieved between 2005 and 2012 as that reported by EU Member States in their bi- annual progress reports with the expected results, as set out in their action plans and . It goes on to describe in details each Member State’s overall contribution to the development of renewable energy since 2005. The findings draw on the Member States’ bi-annual progress reports, the progress each country has made in the use of each renewable energy source and the contribution of renewable energy in each Member State to the heating/cooling, electricity and transport sectors are summarized in standardized tables and graphs allowing quick comparison among different countries and for EU as a whole.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Decarbonization potential of on-road fuels and powertrains in the European Union and the United States: a well-to-wheels assessment

Transportation is fundamental for any modern economy, but its growing energy demand and the related climate impact call for urgent action. Life-cycle analysis (LCA) is a suitable approach to assessing the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance and decarbonization potential of transportation fuels and vehicle powertrains. Here, we assessed well-to-wheels (WTW) GHG emission reductions for a wide set of light-duty vehicle fuel and powertrain technologies used in the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) for their decarbonization potential. We focused on the similarities and differences of the results and the underlying methodologies and data of the two analyses. We evaluated the decarbonization potential of new fuel–vehicle systems in Europe and the United States in comparison to the baseline petroleum gasoline and diesel vehicles in each market. For the transportation fuels examined in both regions, waste-to-fuel technologies and drop-in renewable diesel fuels (biofuels) produced from residues offer the biggest opportunities for reducing per-energy-unit GHG emissions, but may be limited in scale-up potentials given feedstock availabilities, qualities, and logistics challenges. The potential benefits of electricity and hydrogen as fuels span a wide range, determined by the primary energy source and the potential deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technologies. From a tank-to-wheels perspective, electric powertrains, with higher energy efficiency than internal combustion engines, provide incontrovertible evidence of GHG savings. For vehicle–fuel combined systems, the per km WTW results from GREET are generally higher than the JEC estimates, owing to greater vehicle fuel consumption attributable to larger vehicle sizes and more aggressive driving cycles in the U.S. This paper highlights key drivers of WTW fuel–vehicle system GHG emissions as well as opportunities and limitations to decarbonize light-duty transportation in Europe and the United States with promising alternative fuel production and vehicle powertrain technologies. Results show that major solutions in both regions are aligned, despite certain differences in the methodologies and results of the WTW analyses. As well as informing optimal selection of fuel and powertrain technologies for future vehicles, these findings are also useful in informing how existing vehicles can best be decarbonized through the use of renewable fuels and advanced powertrain technologies