Sustainable development usually refers to a development that has economic and social benefits, and that can limit its negative environmental impacts. These three criteria, along with the available technologies, are therefore the three most widespread factors that will affect the conduction of a project. Bioenergy projects are, in this way, similar to other projects, and also need to be evaluated based on the benefits it can provide to the economy, to society and the benefits and detrimental effects it will have on the environment.
Economic impacts
The first step in any project always concerns the evaluation of the costs and the expected revenues. Bioenergy projects always need to produce energy in a cost-effective way compared to other conventional methods of energy production. In some cases, bioenergy can be undertaken despite the fact that other options seem, on a short term, to be more profitable, because of declining feedstocks or because of higher social or environmental benefits that will lead to increased governmental contributions.
Social impacts
Bioenergy projects affect the communities in which they are implemented in various ways. This can go from improved water quality to the creation of new jobs in economically depressed regions.
Some uses of bioenergy require a feedstock based on dedicated field production (such as energy crops) or residues from agricultural production. Some agricultural fields are marginal for food production and bioenergy production could improve these marginal lands. However, in some cases, the production of energy crops may have a detrimental effect on food security.
A good example on the social impacts of bioenergy concerns corn ethanol and rising oil prices. Since corn is an energy-intensive crop and requires the use of fossil fuels, an increase in the cost of the barrel of oil also increases the production costs related to corn production. At the same time, this increase in oil prices increases the profits a farmer can make from the production of corn ethanol. Under competitive market conditions, the increase in oil prices limits the supplies of crop feedstocks and favors the transformation of corn supplies to corn ethanol. These consequences limit the supply of corn for animal and human consumption and can affect the global prices of corn, making it a less affordable product.
Environmental impacts
According to the World Health Organization, one of the leading causes of child mortality (under 5 years old) in poor countries are acute respiratory infections. These types of infections can be caused by an insufficient ventilation system to evacuate the accumulation of indoor air pollutants caused by the use of biomass as a cooking fuel. Bioenergy can therefore have a detrimental effect on air quality. The use of pesticides and fertilizers can also affect water quality. Therefore, a proper assessment of the environmental impacts is often required prior to the implementation of bioenergy technologies, in order to improve the quality of life of the people who will benefit from this technology. The use of briquettes, for example, have been investigated as a low-technology, cost-efficient fuel that could be used in developing countries in order to improve the efficiency of cooking fuels and to improve indoor air quality.
Dr. Grant Clark is currently conducting research on the environmental, economic and social impacts of the implementation of energy crops in certain areas of the world.
Dr John Henning has made a lot of research on energy accounting related to agricultural products and different steps in the food production chain.
Dr. Paul Thomassin focuses on environmental and resource economics. Current projects include economic-ecological macroeconomic models.
Policies
Certain fields of bioenergy are still new technologies and a lot of issues have to be resolved to allow cultural acceptance. For example, genetic engineering of non-food products is a technology that is now generally considered as safe. Bioenergy can have certain negative effects on global food stocks or on water pollution. Governments and scientists therefore need to obtain the necessary information about the complete bioenergy technologies field in order to acknowledge the consequences of these projects. This will help governments to make decisions on the best course of action to take to support beneficial bioenergy technologies and help society.
Dr. Anwar Naseem has research interests in agricultural development as well as R&D, science, and technology policies. His work also includes evaluating the impact of regulations on biotechnology and intellectual property rights.