Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to produce BITES, now presented in an extended spread-sheet based format called BEAM
(Mitchell, 2000), that is an integrated biomass to electricity model.
The territorial evaluation, involving geographical (Noon et al, 1996, Graham et al., 2000),
environmental (Nagel. J., 2000b) and socio-economic (Varela et al., 1999) characteristics of
the region are also very important aspects in the decision modeling of biomass management.
In this respect, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based approaches have been recently
proposed. Noon and Daly, 1996, have proposed a GIS-based Biomass Resource Assessment,
Version One, called BRAVO. BRAVO was defined as a computer-based DSS to assist the
Tennessee Valley Authority in estimating the costs for supplying wood fuel to any one of its
12 coal-fired power plants. In BRAVO, the GIS platform allows the efficient analysis of
transportation networks so that accurate estimates of hauling distances and costs can be
determined. In a subsequent work (Graham et al., 2000) the previous work was extended
under several aspects, one of which was the estimation of the costs and of the environmental
implications of supplying specified amounts of energy crop feedstock across a state,
considering where energy crops could be grown, the spatial variability in their yield, and
transportation costs.
Forest biomass exploitation for energy production should be helpful for increasing the
value of the territory through a specific attention to the forest ecosystem, to good hydro
geological conditions, and to social and economical issues. In fact, these improvements of the
environment are possible because, when building a Decision Support System for forest
biomass exploitation, it is necessary to take into account different issues (energy production,
preservation of the environment, social consequences, etc.).
The problem of the effects on the environment from human activities foresees a
decisional process that should take to the conclusion if an intervention is feasible or not, if the
choices for the development are sustainable, and then, in the realization phase, if the technical
solutions are compatible with the environment. The role of Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) in the decisional process is linked to the foresee and to the estimation of the effects of
relevant actions on the environment, and it furnishes useful information for the final decision.
The EIA procedure has the positive aspect of considering these effects before they can come
out, because it is a technical-administrative procedure, performed on the interventions that
modify the natural environment.
In this study, some aspects that are inside the EIA have been taken into account and
integrated into the DSS. Besides, the study has been implemented taking into account
European and International guidelines regarding energy production from renewable resources,
and the objectives of the Energy Policy in the Liguria Region that have the aim of augmenting
the energy efficiency, of reducing pollutant emissions, and reaching the percentage of 7% of
energy demand for the energy produced by renewable resources. Specifically, Liguria region
has evaluated the possibility to reach in the next 10 years the objective of producing an
installed power for forest biomass equal to 150
MW
. Biomasses can be used to produce
electric and/or thermal power in spite of traditional fuels. The main techniques to convert
biomasses in energy are combustion, gasification, and pyrolisis. The combustion represents
the biomass oxidation under air excess, which products are hot gas that are used to produce
superheated steam from which electricity is obtained. In the gasification process, the biomass
is partly oxidized through sub-stechiometric oxygen quantities. The pyrolisis process is
characterized by a thermal degradation of the material in absence of oxygen.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search