Participative LCA on biofuels

Nov 2005

During the lifecycle of biofuels, emissions arise during biomass feedstock production, transport of the raw material and products, conversion of the feedstock into the biofuel, and use of the fuel in cars. These emissions can have various impacts on environmental themes, such as the greenhouse effect, acidification, eutrofication, toxication, ozon layer depletion, photochemical smog, land use, and biodiversity. Also fossil energy carrier and other abiotic resources are consumed. Whereas there exist a large amount of well-to-wheel energy and greenhouse gas balances of biofuels (Van den Broek et al. 2003), the number of full LCA studies on biofuels on these impacts is very small.
In general, in all LCA’s there are many assumptions that cannot be made fully objective. This makes LCA susceptible to comments, even when data selection has been done in an independent and scientific responsible way. Often comments come from stakeholders who do not see the results of the LCA match with their own objectives. Outcomes of an LCA will always benefit some stakeholders more than others. Another important reason for comments is the fact that the whole system of various environmental impacts in a production chain are rather complex and that in many cases it will be difficult for stakeholders to have a feeling with the results and its sensitivity to the main assumptions.
In order to improve the acceptance of the results, SenterNovem commissioned Ecofys to perform a full biofuel LCA with active participation of the stakeholders.
The main objective of this study is twofold:
• To communicate the environmental impacts of biomass-based fuels as compared to fossil diesel and gasoline with various stakeholders by performing a participative LCA of these options.
• To actively involve the stakeholders in the whole process of LCA execution, including the determination of the input parameters.
In this project, a group of experts watched over the quality of the data input used. The result is an information exchange, in which the stakeholder will be better informed on the environmental performance of the considered biomass chains and in which stakeholders will be informed in detail on the points of view of other stakeholders regarding the respective biomass chains. Although full consensus may be difficult to reach, convergence of opinions on the environmental performance of various biofuels is expected. Thus, besides reporting assumptions, research method and results, this study mainly aims to increase the interaction / discussions between stakeholders, to increase their knowledge on the (in)possibilities of lifecycle assessment, to increase their understanding of the results and sensitivity towards assumptions, and to report the way the participation took place.

 
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