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- Title
Large-scale bioenergy from additional harvest of forest biomass is neither sustainable nor greenhouse gas neutral.
- Authors
Schulze, Ernst-Detlef; Körner, Christian; Law, Beverly E.; Haberl, Helmut; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan
- Abstract
Owing to the peculiarities of forest net primary production humans would appropriate ca. 60% of the global increment of woody biomass if forest biomass were to produce 20% of current global primary energy supply. We argue that such an increase in biomass harvest would result in younger forests, lower biomass pools, depleted soil nutrient stocks and a loss of other ecosystem functions. The proposed strategy is likely to miss its main objective, i.e. to reduce greenhouse gas ( GHG) emissions, because it would result in a reduction of biomass pools that may take decades to centuries to be paid back by fossil fuel substitution, if paid back at all. Eventually, depleted soil fertility will make the production unsustainable and require fertilization, which in turn increases GHG emissions due to N2O emissions. Hence, large-scale production of bioenergy from forest biomass is neither sustainable nor GHG neutral.
- Subjects
GREENHOUSE gases; GREENHOUSE gas mitigation; EMISSIONS (Air pollution); FOSSIL fuels; BIOMASS energy; SOIL fertility
- Publication
GCB Bioenergy, 2012, Vol 4, Issue 6, p611
- ISSN
1757-1693
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01169.x