BIOENERGY FOR EUROPE: WHICH ONES FIT BEST?

146 7 Annex
7.1.7 Country specific results – The Netherlands
In the following section the results for all those life cycle comparisons are presented that were investigated
for The Netherlands.
The figures in this section show the results of the comparisons between the complete life cycles where a
fossil fuel is substituted by a biofuel. CLM studied the life cycles of:
• Willow and Miscanthus versus natural gas (heat production);
• Hemp versus natural gas (electricity production);
• ETBE from sugar beet versus MTBE;
• Biogas versus natural gas (electricity and heat production).
In order to assess which biofuel is the most suitable in ecological terms for different objectives we will
make the following comparisons:
• Heat production with perennial crops: willow, Miscanthus;
• Different types of bioenergy with annual crops: hemp, sugar beet for ETBE;
• Electricity: biogas, hemp;
• Bioenergy: annual crops, perennial crops.
Bullet 3 gives a comparison between life cycles which do not exclude each other. Both biofuels can be
produced without affecting the other chain. This is not the case for the other comparisons as arable land
is needed for the crops.
The life cycle comparisons were carried out with regard to specific environmental impact parameters.
These were:
• Use of fossil fuels
• Greenhouse effect
• Acidification
• Eutrophication
• Summer smog
• Nitrous oxide
• Human toxicity
Per environmental impact parameter a short impression of the most notable results is given. In the conclusions
the four comparisons are discussed and a summary of the results and discussion is given.
How to interpret the diagrams
For each environmental parameter a figure is shown with the impact of the biofuels and the accompanying
fossil fuel on that specific environmental theme. The impact on an environmental parameter is expressed
per MJ useful energy. This is the net energy which is usable for the consumer. The difference in
height between the columns for the biofuel and accompanying fossil fuel shows the effect on an environmental
parameter when the fossil fuel is substituted by the biofuel.
The columns for the biofuels and accompanying fossil fuels are divided into an agricultural and a
energy production part to show and compare the effect on the environmental parameters of the different
stages in the life cycles.
For biogas no distinction is made for the agricultural and energy production part. In its graph, the
bar for the agricultural part also includes the energy production due to fermentation.