Germany’s water footprint of transport fuels

Andrew Ayres

Applied Energy, 2014, vol. 113, issue C, 1746-1751

Abstract: Germany is required by European Union legislation to achieve a 10% mixture of renewable energy in all road transport fuels by the year 2020. This paper intends to quantify the water use impacts of Germany’s compliance with the transport fuel goal of the EU Renewables Directive. Although the stated purpose of this Directive is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector and address energy security concerns, a more encompassing analysis considering sustainable development paths must include other environmental impacts, including water resource use. The water footprint indicator can contribute to a more intelligent environmental analysis of biofuel targets, although it alone cannot attest to the sustainability of human water use. This research builds upon the results of a similar study that aimed to quantify the freshwater impacts of meeting this EU transport fuel goal across Member States. By looking more closely at the case of Germany, country-specific data can be used in the analysis that lead to different results than those reached in the previous study. Results indicate that achieving a 10% mixture of biofuels in the road transport sector could lead to a 64% increase in the water footprint of the transport fuel sector when compared to a baseline scenario of no policy implementation.

Keywords: Biofuels; Water; Water footprint; European Union; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.05.063

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