Bioenergy:

conflicts and
constraints

Linda Forbes Unit A4 – Jan 2007

• Hydrocarbons
• Waste
• Animals
• Crops
• Conclusions
Hydrocarbons
• Ghawar –
Saudi Arabia
• Largest oilfield
in the world
• Used as swing
producer
• Claims it
pumps up to
10.8m bpd
• Recent 8%
decline in
output
 Peak Oil – Saudi Arabia?
• Peak Oil
predicted to
arrive in mid
1990s by M
Hubbert King
in 1969
• Increasing
number of oil
rigs on site
• Has Saudi
Arabian oil
peaked?
EIA Energy Information Administration; JODI Joint Oil Data Initiative
IEA International Energy Authority
Waste

In UK 9% of municipal waste is
incinerated in Energy-from-Waste
plants compared to 50% in
Sweden and Denmark;
and approx 24% is recycled or
composted.
 Waste - to energy (methane)
Chromosomal defects
increase within three mile
radius of landfill sites

Limited source of
Landfill tax is being biogas – owing
increased annually site closures?
Recycling and Eligible under
composting of waste Renewables
is being encouraged Obligation
(previously NFFO)
 Waste - to energy (electricity)
Significant opposition
to incineration plants
of all types
Wastes include
dioxins and fly ash

MSW =
municipal
solid waste

Reliant on residual C&I –

wastes after recycle/ commercial
compost phase and
industrial
Animals - food, biogas, fertiliser

Free range
v
Intensive

High cost
v
Low cost
The ethical dilemma?
What are the
ethics of food
production?
Meat rearing
can use 10x
the energy
required by
arable farming
Valuable waste
products can
be used as
bioenergy or
fertiliser
Can organic
meat farming
be justified?
Animals - to energy, fertiliser
Slurry and litter
from animals
converted via
anaerobic
digestion to
power farm
generator

Aerobic digestion
of green waste
(local council
collection),
feathers (local
poultry processor)
and gypsum
(by-product from
power station)
Crops - food, biofuels

Food
v
Fuel

Solid fuel
v
Liquid fuel

Woodchips to bioethanol plant

in Brazil
 Crops – starches and sugars

Artichokes (wild and Jerusalem),

cassava, sweet potato, sugar
(cane and beet)
 Crops – oils, nuts and shells

Soya beans, rapeseed, hemp,

palm, shea nut butter, jatropha,
citrus and olive stone pulp

Artichokes (wild and Jerusalem),

cassava, sweet potato, sugar
(cane and beet)
Crops – grasses and trees

Miscanthus, reed canary

grass, switch grass,
willow, hazel, robinia,
arundo donax, sweet
sorghum, eucalyptus
 Conclusions
 Bioenergy: conflicts and constraints

 Feedstocks such as wastes, animals and crops can satisfy a

number of roles

 Decisions need to be made on priorities

 Pricing, ethics and subsidies may be used to influence

behaviour and decisions

 Will we be able to meet future demands of population?