bioenergy – the evolution of sustainability schemes and certification of lifecycle ghg emissions

1 | IEA Bioenergy Task 38

Bioenergy – the evolution of sustainability schemes and certification of lifecycle GHG emissions

November 25 - 26 , 2013

Helena Chum, Ethan WarnerNational Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, USA

Annette CowieRural Climate Solutions, UNE/DPI, Australia

2 | Bioenergy Technologies Office

Outline

• Three systems – two examples1. US EPA – Renewable Fuel Standard II2. EU – Renewable Energy Directive3. California Low Carbon Fuel Standards

• Sustainability Schemes

• Beyond GHG metrics

Comparative Application: EU-RED, US-EPA, CA LCFS

1 2 3 4 5


Life-cycle GHG emissions limits specified by policy are indicated by arrows • for the EU-RED as (A): 35% reduction, (B): 50% reduction (applies for production after 2017); • for US EPA Renewable Fuel Standard legislated thresholds are:

(C): 50% reduction for Advanced Biofuel, (D) 60% reduction for Cellulosic Fuel. The Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) (E) requires 10% average reduction in GHG emissions from all transport technologies including liquid fuels by 2020.

• Green and blue points represent supply chain emissions with and without LUC emissions, respectively, while black points denote fossil fuel references used in each policy framework.

• The “default” values are EU-RED legislation accepted values for the pathways, and typical values are the values from audits of suppliers.

For rapeseed biodiesel results of a published meta-analysis are illustrated, showing the impact of alternative methods for handling co-products. For ethanol from sugarcane, literature of life cycle emissions under different agricultural management practices, process conditions, and energy efficiency for three countries are illustrated.

The diamond symbol is placed at the 50th percentile, top and bottom bars indicate the 75th and 25th percentiles.

EPA’s examples are for Brazilian sugarcane with and without mechanized harvest. The impact of differences between the regulatory schemes in approach to calculation of LUC is also illustrated in Fig X. The values for direct + indirect LUC for sugarcane ethanol from Brazil are 46, 5, and 13 gCO2eq/MJ, respectively for CARB, US EPA, and proposed for the EU RED (Laborde 2011). The latter two values are derived from similar estimates of C stock losses due to LUC, but vary due to the difference in amortization period (30 and 20 years, respectively).

Sources: EU RED 2009, US EPA 2010, CARB 2012, Malça and Freire 2011, Amores et al. 2013, García et al. 2011, Seabra et al. 2011, Seabra and Macedo 2011.

.

Life-cycle GHG emissions in g CO2eq/MJ for rapeseed and sugarcane biofuels and for the reference fossil fuels.


U.S. Sustainable Bioenergy Activities ReferenceG. Ostheimer (USDA), Kristen Johnson (DOE Sustainability Lead), GBEP Sustainability Indicators: the U.S. Experience in GBEP 4th Working Group Meeting on Capacity Building, May 10-13, Berlin, Germany*

*See: http://www.globalbioenergy.org/fileadmin/user_upload/gbep/docs/2013_events/4th_WGCB_Berlin_29-30_May_2013/2905_3_-_OSTEHIMER_JOHNSON.pdf


Kristen Johnson & Chris Ramig DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office February, 2013


References

• US EPA 2010. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) Regulatory Impact Analysis. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (2010) EPA-420-R-10-006.

• U.S. EPA. 2011. Biofuels and the Environment: the First Triennial Report to Congress (2011 Final Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-10/183F, 2011.

• US EPA (2013) RFS Renewable Identification Number (RIN) Quality Assurance Program, NPRM: 78 FR 12158, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Citation, 40 CFR Part 80.

• US EPA 2013 Final Rule for Additional Qualifying Renewable Fuel Pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program, Final Rule for Additional Qualifying Renewable Fuel Pathways under the RFS2 Program (PDF) (4 pp, 222K, EPA-420-F-13-014, February 2013) Final Rule (PDF) (28 pp, 2.90MB, published March 5, 2013) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/documents/420f13014.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/documents/420f13014.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-03-05/pdf/2013-04929.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

EU-RED Compliant SchemesRecognised Voluntary SchemesSince 19 July 2011, the EC has recognised voluntary schemes that applies directly in 27 EU Member States. Schemes include the Assessment report and the Commission Implementing Decision.

1. ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification)2. Bonsucro EU3. RTRS EU RED (Round Table on Responsible Soy EU RED)4. RSB EU RED (Roundtable of Sustainable Biofuels EU RED)5. 2BSvs (Biomass Biofuels voluntary scheme)6. RBSA (Abengoa RED Bioenergy Sustainability Assurance)7. Greenergy (Greenergy Brazilian Bioethanol verification programme)8. Ensus voluntary scheme under RED for Ensus bioethanol production9. Red Tractor (Red Tractor Farm Assurance Combinable Crops & Sugar Beet Scheme)10. SQC (Scottish Quality Farm Assured Combinable Crops (SQC) scheme)11. Red Cert12. NTA 808013. RSPO RED (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil RED)14. Biograce GHG calculation tool

Renewable Energy Progress and Biofuels Sustainability, prepared by ECOFYS and a group of entities

for the European Commission, 2013, 450 pages

available at http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/reports/doc/2013_renewable_energy_progress.pdf


Biofuels RD&D in BIOENERGY 2020+Dina Bacovsky, BIOENERGY 2020+Eco-Mobility 2013, 4th Oct. 2013, Vienna


The Big Ten

GEA, 2012: Global Energy Assessment – Toward a Sustainable Future, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK andNew York, NY, USA and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria. Figure 3.12


Sustainability Activities


Assessing water quality and quantity impacts

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/johnson_wildlife_natural_resources_conference_March_2013.pdf


Harvesting residue at sustainable rates

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/johnson_wildlife_natural_resources_conference_March_2013.pdf


Recovering nutrients with bioenergy crops


Enabler of Large-scale Bioenergy – Sustainability Considerations

NREL, ANL, INL, ORNL, DOI: 10.1002/bbb.1391;Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref.7:282–302 (2013)

bioenergy – the evolution of sustainability schemes and certification of lifecycle ghg emissions

Documents

luc emissions

transport technologies

iea bioenergy task

eured legislation

eu red laborde

cellulosic fuel

typical values

default values