A collaborative project to form the basis for political decisions on bioenergy usage
The environmental impacts of different types of biofuels used in Switzerland have been compared in a detailed life cycle assessment. Different reports of this project are published on the homepage of the Swiss authority of energy. This study forms an important scientific input for the political decision on tax regulations for biofuels.
Within the project "Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten" several bioenergy products are analysed and investigated in an LCA. The project is split into three parts. The first part investigated basic life cycle inventory data for Swiss bioenergy products. An additional project aims to investigate basic data for imported biofuels. In the last step, the data are assessed in an LCA. The full project was led by ESU-services.
The project was financed by the following institutions:
- Swiss Federal Office of Energy (Bundesamt für Energie), BfE, CH
- Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, (Bundesamt für Umwelt) BAFU, CH
- Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, BLW, CH
Additional contributions are provided by
- alcosuisse, Das Profitcenter der Eidg. Alkoholverwaltung, CH
- Erdöl-Vereinigung, CH
- ERZ Entsorgung und Recycling Zürich, CH
Dr. Niels Jungbluth was the project leader of the project: „Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten"
Supervision and instruction for LCI data providers from different institutions
The project investigated the life cycle inventories of the production and use of ethanol, methanol, biogas, BTL-fuels (biomass to liquid) and plant oils. Therefore, some agricultural products (grass, straw, rape seeds) are included in the analysis. The use of such fuels for different transport devices is investigated as well. Further important bioenergy products that are imported to Switzerland are investigated in a second part of the project. The data for biogas production in agriculture have been updated as well.
These data complement existing datasets in the ecoinvent database. Therefore, the same methodology as in the ecoinvent project is used. The data have been published together with the ecoinvent data v2.0 in November 2007. Please refer to www.ecoinvent.org for updated information how to purchase the data.
The following partners investigate the life cycle inventory data of biofuels:
- Carbotech AG
- Chudacoff Oekoscience
- Doka Ökobilanzen, CH
- ENERS Energy Concept and LASEN
- ETHZ, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Natural and Social Science Interface
- ETHZ, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Safety and Environmental Technology Group
- ESU-services
- INFRAS
- PSI Villigen, CH
Life Cycle Impact Assessment for biofuels on the Swiss market
In a second part of the project of the project "Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten" different options for the use of bioenergy were compared. The life cycle impact assessment and interpretation part of the study was elaborated by different institutions under the project lead of Niels Jungbluth.
The life cycle impact assessment and interpretation part of the study is elaborated by
- EMPA - Technology and Society Laboratory, St.Gallen: "Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten: Ökologische Bewertung von Biotreibstoffen". A critical review according to ISO 14040 was performed by Fredy Dinkel, Carbotech AG.
- agroscope (agricultural products), article
- ESU-services Ltd. (LCA of biomass-to-liquid fuels)
- Carbotech AG (agricultural products), internal paper
Realization in Swiss laws
The Swiss Mineral Oil Tax Act and the relevant ordinances set threshold limits for the emission of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts (proof of the positive aggregate environmental impact) for fuels from renewable feedstocks. Calculation rules and threshold have been based on this project.
Biofuels Life Cycle Assessment Ordinance (BLCAO) English translation (not binding)
Poster and Presentations
Jungbluth N., Chudacoff M., Dauriat A., Dinkel F., Doka G., Faist Emmenegger M., Gnansounou E., Kljun N., Schleiss K., Spielmann M., Stettler C. and Sutter J. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Bioenergy. ecoinvent report No. 17, v2.0. ESU-services, Uster, CH (avilable as download on www.ecoinvent.org for ecoinvent v2.0 members only) Summary and contents of the report "Life cycle inventories of bioenergy".
Presentation during the ecoevent meeting
Niels Jungbluth, "Life cycle assessment and sustainability aspects of biodiesel". 2nd International Congress on Biodiesel, AOCS, Munich, 17.11.2009
Niels Jungbluth, "Life Cycle Assessment of Agrofuels: Summary of different case studies and conclusions for mobility". ETH Zürich, December 2008.
Niels Jungbluth, Biomass production: Raw materials for biofuels. 2nd international ecoinvent meeting, 14.3.2008, ETH Lausanne
Niels Jungbluth, Bioenergy and biomaterials: Biofuels. 2nd international ecoinvent meeting, 14.3.2008, ETH Lausanne
The presentation and article at the LCA in foods conference of Niels focuses on the approach used in the project on biofuels for the calculation of environmental impacts from deforestation and clear cutting of primary forests.
The project has been presented with a poster at the SETAC conference 2006 in Den Haag.
All Project results are published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE, BFE).
