Identification of Suitable Areas for Biomass Power Plant Construction through Environmental Impact Assessment of Forest Harvesting Residues Transportation

Maria Pergola, Angelo Rita, Alfonso Tortora, Maria Castellaneta, Marco Borghetti, Antonio Sergio De Franchi, Antonio Lapolla, Nicola Moretti, Giovanni Pecora, Domenico Pierangeli, Luigi Todaro and Francesco Ripullone
Additional contact information
Maria Pergola: Ages s.r.l. s—Academic Spin-off, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10-85100 Potenza, Italy
Angelo Rita: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Alfonso Tortora: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Maria Castellaneta: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Marco Borghetti: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Antonio Sergio De Franchi: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Antonio Lapolla: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Nicola Moretti: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Giovanni Pecora: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Domenico Pierangeli: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Luigi Todaro: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Francesco Ripullone: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10. I-85100 Potenza, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: In accordance with European objectives, the Basilicata region intends to promote the use of energy systems and heat generators powered by lignocellulosic biomass, so the present study aimed to investigate the availability of logging residues and most suitable areas for the construction of bioenergy production plants. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was employed to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the biomass distribution and its transport, and spatial LCA was used to evaluate the impact of regional transport. One cubic meter kilometer (m 3 km −1 ) was used as the functional unit and a small lorry was considered for the transport. The results showed that the available harvesting residues amounted to 36,000 m 3 and their loading environmental impact accounted for 349 mPt m −3 . The impacts of transport (4.01 mPt m −3 ) ranged from 3.4 to 144,400 mPt km −1 forest parcel −1 , mainly affecting human health (95%) and, second, the ecosystem quality (5%). Three possible sites for bioenergy plant location were identified considering the environmental impact distribution due to feedstock transport. Findings from this research show the importance of considering the LCA of biomass acquisition in site selection and can fill the knowledge gaps in the available literature about spatial LCA.

Keywords: bioenergy; life cycle assessment; geographic information system (GIS); harvesting residues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2699/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2699/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:11:p:2699-:d:363874

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().