Clemens C. C. von Doderer and Theo E. Kleynhans

11.1 Introduction

A variety of reasons have led to the promotion of indigenous renewable energy sources and to an entirely new energy paradigm from fossil to renewable energy resources. These include, amongst others, the need for security and diversification of energy supplies as well as for less reliance on fossil fuels, the uncertainty surrounding oil prices, and increasing concerns over environmental degradation and climate effects.

An implied aim of renewable energy production is the degree it can reduce an eventual impact on the environment associated with the use of the fossil energy that it will replace. However, as the bioenergy crop is growing, production of ancillary materials, conversion to an energy product and the use of the energy product are not necessarily free of environmental impacts. Thus it is essential that the benefits of bioenergy schemes be investigated from a life-cycle perspective. This has led to the development of a variety of methods to better comprehend the investigated system and, eventually, to reduce those environmental impacts.

There is broad agreement in the scientific community that life-cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the best methodologies for the evaluation of environmental burdens associated with the production of bioenergy and related products (Consoli et al. 1993; Davis et al. 2009; Cherubini and Str0mman 2011). It allows an identification of opportunities for environmental improvementby identifying energy and materials used as well as waste and emissions released to the environment.

The energy — and greenhouse gas balances of bioenergy systems can differ significantly. A variety of factors need to be considered, such as the type of feedstock, type of procurement system or the type of conversion technology.

C. C.C. von Doderer (H) • T. E. Kleynhans

Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa e-mail: cvd@sun. ac. za

T. Seifert (ed.), Bioenergy from Wood: Sustainable Production in the Tropics, Managing Forest Ecosystems 26, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7448-3__11,

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Regional differences can also be significant, especially with respect to land use and biomass production patterns, as well as the reference system with which the bioenergy system is compared. In addition, bioenergy production usually results in the generation of co-products, which can replace conventional products providing further environmental benefits to the biofuel process chain (Cherubini et al. 2009).

The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction into the LCA methodology. The usefulness and the functionality of an LCA process will be illustrated through a recent case study of a lignocellulosic bioenergy production systems.