| 1. |
- Robledo-Abad, Carmenza, et al.
(författare)
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Bioenergy production and sustainable development: science base for policy-making remains limited
- 2017
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology Bioenergy. - : Wiley. - 1757-1693 .- 1757-1707. ; 9:3, s. 541-556
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The possibility of using bioenergy as a climate change mitigation measure has sparked a discussion of whether and how bioenergy production contributes to sustainable development. We undertook a systematic review of the scientific literature to illuminate this relationship and found a limited scientific basis for policy-making. Our results indicate that knowledge on the sustainable development impacts of bioenergy production is concentrated in a few well-studied countries, focuses on environmental and economic impacts, and mostly relates to dedicated agricultural biomass plantations. The scope and methodological approaches in studies differ widely and only a small share of the studies sufficiently reports on context and/or baseline conditions, which makes it difficult to get a general understanding of the attribution of impacts. Nevertheless we identified regional patterns of positive or negative impacts for all categories – environmental, economic, institutional, social and technological. In general, economic and technological impacts were more frequently reported as positive, while social and environmental impacts were more frequently reported as negative (with the exception of impacts on direct substitution of GHG emission from fossil fuel). More focused and transparent research is needed to validate these patterns and develop a strong science underpinning for establishing policies and governance agreements that prevent/mitigate negative and promote positive impacts from bioenergy production.
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| 2. |
- Labordena, M., et al.
(författare)
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Impact of political and economical barriers for concentrating solar power in Sub-Saharan Africa
- 2017
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 102, s. 52-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) needs additional affordable and reliable electricity to fuel its social and economic development. Ideally, all of this new supply is carbon-neutral. The potentials for renewables in SSA suffice for any conceivable demand, but the wind power and photovoltaic resources are intermittent and difficult to integrate in the weak electricity grids. Here, we investigate the potential for supplying SSA demand centers with dispatchable electricity from concentrating solar power (CSP) stations equipped with thermal storage. We show that, given anticipated cost reductions from technological improvements, power from CSP could be competitive with coal power in Southern Africa by 2025; but in most SSA countries, power from CSP may not be competitive. We also show that variations in risk across countries influences the cost of power from CSP more than variations in solar resources. If policies to de-risk CSP investment to financing cost levels found in industrialized countries were successfully implemented, power from CSP could become cheaper than coal power by 2025 in all SSA countries. Policies to increase institutional capacity and cooperation among SSA countries could reduce costs further. With dedicated policy measures, therefore, CSP could become an economically attractive electricity option for all SSA countries.
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