The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union
As the EU is moving towards a low carbon economy and seeks to further develop its renewable energy policy, this paper quantitatively investigates the impact of plausible energy market reforms from the perspective of bio-renewables. Employing a state-of-the-art biobased variant of a computable genera...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2703 |
| _version_ | 1811279835221196800 |
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| author | George Philippidis Heleen Bartelings John Helming Robert M’barek Edward Smeets Hans van Meijl |
| author_facet | George Philippidis Heleen Bartelings John Helming Robert M’barek Edward Smeets Hans van Meijl |
| author_sort | George Philippidis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As the EU is moving towards a low carbon economy and seeks to further develop its renewable energy policy, this paper quantitatively investigates the impact of plausible energy market reforms from the perspective of bio-renewables. Employing a state-of-the-art biobased variant of a computable general equilibrium model, this study assesses the perceived medium-term benefits, risks and trade-offs which arise from an advanced biofuels plan, two exploratory scenarios of a more ‘sustainable’ conventional biofuels plan and a ‘no-mandate’ scenario. Consistent with more recent studies, none of the scenarios considered present significant challenges to EU food-security or agricultural land usage. An illustrative advanced biofuels plan simulation requires non-trivial public support to implement whilst a degree of competition for biomass with (high-value) advanced biomass material industries is observed. On the other hand, it significantly alleviates land use pressures, whilst lignocellulose biomass prices are not expected to increase to unsustainable levels. Clearly, these observations are subject to assumptions on technological change, sustainable biomass limits, expected trends in fossil fuel prices and EU access to third-country trade. With these same caveats in mind, the switch to increased bioethanol production does not result in significant market tensions in biomass markets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:02:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f07a30d97cd4abaa78ee3361d418aec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:02:57Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f07a30d97cd4abaa78ee3361d418aec2022-12-22T03:09:26ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732018-10-011110270310.3390/en11102703en11102703The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European UnionGeorge Philippidis0Heleen Bartelings1John Helming2Robert M’barek3Edward Smeets4Hans van Meijl5Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 41092 Seville, SpainWageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, Alexanderveld 5, 2585 The Hague, The NetherlandsWageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, Alexanderveld 5, 2585 The Hague, The NetherlandsJoint Research Centre, European Commission, 41092 Seville, SpainWageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, Alexanderveld 5, 2585 The Hague, The NetherlandsWageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, Alexanderveld 5, 2585 The Hague, The NetherlandsAs the EU is moving towards a low carbon economy and seeks to further develop its renewable energy policy, this paper quantitatively investigates the impact of plausible energy market reforms from the perspective of bio-renewables. Employing a state-of-the-art biobased variant of a computable general equilibrium model, this study assesses the perceived medium-term benefits, risks and trade-offs which arise from an advanced biofuels plan, two exploratory scenarios of a more ‘sustainable’ conventional biofuels plan and a ‘no-mandate’ scenario. Consistent with more recent studies, none of the scenarios considered present significant challenges to EU food-security or agricultural land usage. An illustrative advanced biofuels plan simulation requires non-trivial public support to implement whilst a degree of competition for biomass with (high-value) advanced biomass material industries is observed. On the other hand, it significantly alleviates land use pressures, whilst lignocellulose biomass prices are not expected to increase to unsustainable levels. Clearly, these observations are subject to assumptions on technological change, sustainable biomass limits, expected trends in fossil fuel prices and EU access to third-country trade. With these same caveats in mind, the switch to increased bioethanol production does not result in significant market tensions in biomass markets.http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2703biomassbio-energybio-chemicalsadvanced technologiesagricultural productiontradeland useeconomic modellingMAGNET model |
| spellingShingle | George Philippidis Heleen Bartelings John Helming Robert M’barek Edward Smeets Hans van Meijl The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union Energies biomass bio-energy bio-chemicals advanced technologies agricultural production trade land use economic modelling MAGNET model |
| title | The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union |
| title_full | The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union |
| title_fullStr | The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union |
| title_short | The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain: Bioenergy Use in the European Union |
| title_sort | good the bad and the uncertain bioenergy use in the european union |
| topic | biomass bio-energy bio-chemicals advanced technologies agricultural production trade land use economic modelling MAGNET model |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2703 |
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