BIOENERGY FOR EUROPE: WHICH ONES FIT BEST?

7.1 Country specific life cycle comparisons 153
Miscanthus has an obvious disadvantage for human toxicity whereas this disadvantage is smaller for
willow. This is due to dioxine emission from Miscanthus combustion.
Different types of bioenergy with annual crops: hemp, sugar beet for ETBE
In general the results for the annuals sugar beet and hemp are comparable. Like willow and Miscanthus
both biofuels score well on the use of fossil fuels, greenhouse effect and summer smog. The production
of useful energy per ha is larger from hemp then from sugar beet for ETBE.
Hemp has larger disadvantages for ozone depletion and eutrophication compared to ETBE. Especially
the more intensive fertilisation of hemp causes a larger effect on ozone depletion and eutrophication.
For acidification ETBE has a minor disadvantage compared with the disadvantage of. For hemp,
the relatively high score for acidification due to the agricultural part relates to ammonia emission.
If we compare the level of impact for human toxicity it can be seen that ETBE has a much higher
impact than hemp. Nevertheless the difference between the fossil fuel and the biofuel is comparable for
ETBE and hemp. The minor disadvantage of hemp is caused by the use of pesticides. The disadvantage
of sugar beet for ETBE is due to the energy production part.
Electricity: biogas, hemp
The results for biogas and hemp are comparable for all the environmental parameters except for ozone
depletion. Both biofuels have a positive result for the use of fossil fuels, greenhouse effect and summer
smog. Nevertheless the advantages for biogas for greenhouse effect and summer smog are higher than
for hemp. This is partly caused by the reduction of methane emission because biogas out of manure is
used as a biofuel instead of applying non-treated manure on the field.
For acidification and eutrophication biogas and hemp have disadvantages compared to the fossil
fuels. For hemp this is due to the more intensive fertilisation. For it is due to the higher emission of
ammonia during spreading of the fermented manure and the higher emission of NOx during the combustion
of the biogas.
Both biofuels have a comparable minor disadvantage on human toxicity.
A large difference between hemp and biogas is the highly negative effect of hemp and the positive
effect of biogas on ozone depletion. The agricultural part of hemp causes a high emission of N2O
whereas biogas leads to less emission of N2O compared to the fossil fuel reference.
Bioenergy: annual crops, perennial crops
The perennials willow and Miscanthus and the annuals sugar beet for ETBE and hemp have advantages
for the use of fossil fuels , greenhouse effect and summer smog. For the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse
effect the perennial crops have a larger impact than the annuals.
The perennial and annual crops both have disadvantages for ozone depletion and eutrophication.
With regard to eutrophication by ETBE, this is only minor compared to the disadvantage of willow,
Miscanthus and hemp.
For acidification and human toxicity, the annuals and perennials differ but the picture is not clear.
ETBE has a minor disadvantage which is mainly caused by a bigger effect in the energy production part
for human toxicity and by a bigger effect in the agricultural part for acidification. The disadvantage of
hemp can be explained with the more intensive fertilisation (eutrophication) and pesticide use (human
toxicity). The negative scores of perennials on these themes do not relate to the relative clean agricultural
production part, but to the emissions in the energy production phase.