BIOENERGY FOR EUROPE: WHICH ONES FIT BEST?

II Contents
3.5 Interpretation .....................................................................................................................43
3.5.1 General procedure.................................................................................................43
3.5.2 Interpretation concept: biofuels versus fossil fuels .................................................44
3.5.3 Interpretation concept: Biofuels versus Biofuels ....................................................44
4 Environmental results: presentation, discussion and interpretation ......................................47
4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................47
4.1.1 Life cycles under study..........................................................................................47
4.1.2 Impacts under study and presentation criteria.........................................................47
4.1.3 Sensitivity analyses ...............................................................................................48
4.1.4 The criteria of result description ............................................................................51
4.2 European results: biofuels compared to fossil fuels ............................................................51
4.2.1 Triticale versus hard coal for electricity production................................................52
4.2.2 Willow versus light oil / natural gas for district heat production .............................53
4.2.3 Miscanthus versus light oil / natural gas for district heat production.......................54
4.2.4 RME versus diesel fuel for transportation ..............................................................55
4.2.5 SME versus diesel fuel for transportation...............................................................56
4.2.6 ETBE versus MTBE for transportation (components of gasoline) ..........................57
4.2.7 Traditional firewood versus light oil / natural gas for residential heat production ...58
4.2.8 Wheat straw versus light oil / natural gas for district heat production .....................59
4.2.9 Biogas versus natural gas for combined heat and power production .......................60
4.2.10 Results on biodiversity and soil quality..................................................................61
4.3 European results: biofuels for specific objectives ...............................................................63
4.3.1 Technical applications I: heat production...............................................................64
4.3.2 Technical applications II: transport........................................................................65
4.3.3 Ecological aspects I: land use efficiency ................................................................66
4.3.4 Ecological aspects II: impacts related to saved energy............................................67
4.4 Summary of country specific results...................................................................................68
4.4.1 Austria ..................................................................................................................69
4.4.2 Denmark ...............................................................................................................70
4.4.3 France ...................................................................................................................71
4.4.4 Germany ...............................................................................................................72
4.4.5 Greece...................................................................................................................73
4.4.6 Italy.......................................................................................................................74
4.4.7 The Netherlands ....................................................................................................75
4.4.8 Switzerland ...........................................................................................................76
4.5 Summary of comparisons between the countries for each biofuel .......................................77
5 Socio-economic and political analyses.......................................................................................79
5.1 Methodology and data generation ......................................................................................79
5.2 Socio-economic aspects .....................................................................................................80
5.2.1 Production costs ....................................................................................................80
5.2.2 Employment..........................................................................................................81
5.3 Visual impact of landscape changes ...................................................................................83
5.3.1 Variation in structure.............................................................................................83