土地の浄化とバイオ燃料の炭素負債
Joseph Fargione1, Jason Hill, David Tilman
1The Nature Conservancy, 1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
まとめ
バイオ燃料は低炭素であるかもしれませんが,土地の改造から生産すると,かなりの炭素負債が生じます. 廃棄物や劣化した土地から持続可能なバイオ燃料の生産は,温室効果ガスの直接的な利点を提供します.
科学分野:
- 環境科学 環境科学
- 気候変動研究 気候変動研究
- 持続可能なエネルギー 持続可能なエネルギー
背景:
- エネルギー需要の増加と気候変動は,低炭素燃料への移行を必要としています.
- バイオ燃料は化石燃料の潜在的な代替品ですが,その環境への影響は様々です.
- 二酸化炭素 (CO2) の排出は,気候変動の主要な原動力である.
研究 の 目的:
- 異なるバイオ燃料生産方法に関連する炭素負債を評価する.
- 廃棄物ベースのバイオ燃料と作物ベースの食品の温室効果ガス (GHG) の影響を比較する.
- バイオ燃料が真の炭素削減をもたらす条件を決定する.
主な方法:
- 様々なバイオ燃料の原料から発生する温室効果ガス排出量のライフサイクル評価.
- バイオ燃料生産のための土地利用の変化による炭素負債の定量化.
- バイオ燃料によるCO2排出量の比較と,化石燃料によるCO2排出量の比較
主要な成果:
- 自然の生態系 (熱帯雨林,泥炭地帯,サバンナ,草原) を食品作物のバイオ燃料を生産するために変換することは,かなりの"バイオ燃料の炭素負債"を生成します.
- この炭素負債は,化石燃料の代替による年間温室効果ガス削減の17~420倍である.
- 廃棄物バイオマスから派生したバイオ燃料,または劣化/放棄された土地で栽培されたバイオ燃料は,炭素負債が最小かゼロである.
結論:
- バイオマスの供給源は,バイオ燃料の気候効果を決定する上で極めて重要です.
- 土地の改造による食糧作物ベースのバイオ燃料は,持続可能な低炭素ソリューションではありません.
- 廃棄物バイオマスを利用したり,劣化した土地をバイオ燃料生産のために復元したりすることで,有意で即時の温室効果ガスの利点がもたらされます.
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