Constraints on the availability of marginal land for bioenergy production in southern Sweden
Winberg, Josefin LU
; Ekroos, Johan
LU
; Eklundh, Lars
LU
and Smith, Henrik G.
LU
(2024)
In Biomass and Bioenergy
190.
- Abstract
- roduction of biomass for bioenergy on marginal land has been promoted to decrease the use of non-renewable energy without competing with food production. Previous estimates of marginal land and abandoned farmland in Sweden available for bioenergy production are based on general statistics and assumptions but lack in-depth analyses of potential alternative land-use values. Easily accessible public data only offer a coarse categorization of marginal land that may exaggerate the potential of using it for e.g. bioenergy production. This study assessed the regional availability and socioeconomic setting of marginal land in south Sweden. Our detailed analysis that combines easily accessible data with remote sensing shows that much of the land... (More)
- roduction of biomass for bioenergy on marginal land has been promoted to decrease the use of non-renewable energy without competing with food production. Previous estimates of marginal land and abandoned farmland in Sweden available for bioenergy production are based on general statistics and assumptions but lack in-depth analyses of potential alternative land-use values. Easily accessible public data only offer a coarse categorization of marginal land that may exaggerate the potential of using it for e.g. bioenergy production. This study assessed the regional availability and socioeconomic setting of marginal land in south Sweden. Our detailed analysis that combines easily accessible data with remote sensing shows that much of the land identified as marginal is already used for biomass production or has alternative use values, suggesting that using this land for additional bioenergy production may hamper other societal values, such as biodiversity conservation, food production, and recreation. In addition, the small size and lower productivity of the marginal land identified indicate challenges for cost-efficient biomass production. Thus, earlier assessments of bioenergy potential from marginal land have most likely overestimated the availability of suitable marginal land. We conclude that estimates of bioenergy production capacity on marginal land need to account for existing and potential alternative use values not included in easily available land use statistics, which limits the marginal land accessibility for renewable energy production. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9198d5ed-64dc-45a9-97f2-313fc473b14e
- author
- Winberg, Josefin
LU
; Ekroos, Johan
LU
; Eklundh, Lars
LU
and Smith, Henrik G.
LU
- organization
-
- Biodiversity and Evolution
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science (research group)
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
- LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions
- publishing date
- 2024-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Biomass and Bioenergy
- volume
- 190
- article number
- 107421
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85205731416
- ISSN
- 0961-9534
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.biombioe.2024.107421
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9198d5ed-64dc-45a9-97f2-313fc473b14e
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-27 11:22:20
- date last changed
- 2024-12-02 16:40:25
@article{9198d5ed-64dc-45a9-97f2-313fc473b14e,
abstract = {{roduction of biomass for bioenergy on marginal land has been promoted to decrease the use of non-renewable energy without competing with food production. Previous estimates of marginal land and abandoned farmland in Sweden available for bioenergy production are based on general statistics and assumptions but lack in-depth analyses of potential alternative land-use values. Easily accessible public data only offer a coarse categorization of marginal land that may exaggerate the potential of using it for e.g. bioenergy production. This study assessed the regional availability and socioeconomic setting of marginal land in south Sweden. Our detailed analysis that combines easily accessible data with remote sensing shows that much of the land identified as marginal is already used for biomass production or has alternative use values, suggesting that using this land for additional bioenergy production may hamper other societal values, such as biodiversity conservation, food production, and recreation. In addition, the small size and lower productivity of the marginal land identified indicate challenges for cost-efficient biomass production. Thus, earlier assessments of bioenergy potential from marginal land have most likely overestimated the availability of suitable marginal land. We conclude that estimates of bioenergy production capacity on marginal land need to account for existing and potential alternative use values not included in easily available land use statistics, which limits the marginal land accessibility for renewable energy production.}},
author = {{Winberg, Josefin and Ekroos, Johan and Eklundh, Lars and Smith, Henrik G.}},
issn = {{0961-9534}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Biomass and Bioenergy}},
title = {{Constraints on the availability of marginal land for bioenergy production in southern Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2024.107421}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.biombioe.2024.107421}},
volume = {{190}},
year = {{2024}},
}