Beyond carbon and energy: the challenge in setting guidelines for life cycle assessment of biofuel systems

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dc.contributor.authorSmyth, Beatrice M.
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Jerry D.
dc.contributor.authorCzyrnek-DelĂȘtre, Magdalena M.
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderGas Networks Ireland
dc.contributor.funderErvia, Ireland
dc.contributor.funderB9 Energy Group, Northern Ireland
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-05T19:00:47Z
dc.date.available2018-02-05T19:00:47Z
dc.date.issued2016-11-18
dc.date.updated2018-01-29T12:29:42Z
dc.description.abstractLife cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the most suitable tool for a uniform assessment methodology of biofuels’ sustainability. However, there are no binding guidelines for LCA of biofuel systems. Published LCAs use a range of methodologies, different system boundaries, impact categories and functional units, various allocation approaches, and assumptions regarding by- and co-products, as well as different reference systems to which the biofuel system is compared. The European Renewable Energy Directive and the US Renewable Fuel Standard focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, previous LCAs of biofuel systems have shown that a reduction of GHG emissions does not lead automatically to a decrease in other environmental impacts, and might in fact be associated with an increase in impacts such as acidification, eutrophication, and land use change. In order to enable effective comparison of biofuel systems, the authors propose a framework for biofuel LCA. System boundaries should be expanded to include the life cycle of by- and co-products. Results should be reported using more than one functional unit. Burden shifting can be avoided by considering an array of impact categories including global warming potential and energy balance, along with eutrophication and acidification potential, and a land use indicator.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationCzyrnek-DelĂȘtre, M. M., Smyth, B. M. and Murphy, J. D. (2016) 'Beyond carbon and energy: the challenge in setting guidelines for life cycle assessment of biofuel systems', Renewable Energy, 105, pp. 436-448. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2016.11.043en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.renene.2016.11.043
dc.identifier.endpage448en
dc.identifier.issn0960-1481
dc.identifier.issn1879-0682
dc.identifier.journaltitleRenewable Energyen
dc.identifier.startpage436en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/5371
dc.identifier.volume105en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevier Ltd.en
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI Research Centres/12/RC/2302/IE/Marine Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) - The SFI Centre for Marine Renewable Energy Research/en
dc.rights© 2016, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectLife cycle assessmenten
dc.subjectSustainability guidelinesen
dc.subjectSystem boundariesen
dc.subjectImpact categoriesen
dc.subjectBiofuelsen
dc.titleBeyond carbon and energy: the challenge in setting guidelines for life cycle assessment of biofuel systemsen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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