Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Original situation: Pasture land with forest
Grassland
Forest
dLUC
Bioenergy crop
dLUC by insertion of a bioenergy crop;
e.g., soil carbon may change
Grassland
Forest
dLUC
Bioenergy crop
iLUC by conversion of forest into grassland;
this can be caused by different pressures,
e.g., macroeconomic or changes in
grassland productivity
Grassland
Forest
iLUC
FIGURE 1.8
Illustration of the differences in LUC forms, based on Berndes et al. (2011).
1.4 RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABLE POTENTIAL OF BIOMASS
Prior to the discovery and large-scale utilization of inexpensive fossil fuels during the
Industrial Revolution, mankind was strongly depending on plant biomass to meet its
energy demands. In prehistoric times, already, biomass was not only the key source
for the supply of food, animal feed, and materials for clothing but also for heating,
cooking, and lighting. Later in preindustrial times, biomass served quite diverse pur-
poses, such as early charcoal production for iron making and heat generation for the
processing of metals.
Biomass is available in abundance and more evenly distributed over the world
than fossil fuels. Energy originating from the sun is stored in biological species,
and this comprises the oldest stored energy source known to mankind. Its current
use is still mainly traditional, and often unhealthy and laborious practices have tra-
ditionally been established for the combustion of biomass to generate heat for cook-
ing. This practice makes up for around 22% of the energy used in developing
countries (Bauen et al., 2009) and for almost 50% of the primary energy used in
Africa (Karekezi et al., 2004). In modern societies, the use of biomass as an energy
source was gradually abandoned after the discovery of huge amounts of cheap fossil
fuels that were easier to process and use. Furthermore, the
“
modern age
”
fuels
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