Fuels made from biomass – so-called biofuels – are currently the most important form of renewable energy in road transportation and could at least over the short term take on a role in reducing greenhouse gases and our dependency on fossil fuels. Consequently, the production of biofuels is rapidly increasing worldwide.

While current biofuels allow direct greenhouse gas savings of 30% compared to fossil fuels, the environmental impacts – ranging from ecotoxicity and eutrophication to a loss of biodiversity - are usually much higher. Besides that, expanding bioenergy production may lead to global conflicts with other land uses such as food production or conservation of natural areas.

The LCAM group is assessing the sustainability of current and future bioenergy technologies by combining Life Cycle Assessment with other methods from social and environmental sciences. The ultimate aim is supporting informed decision making.     

Contact:
Dr. Rainer Zah
   

Related projects

• Bioenergy in Africa and Central America – Opportunities and Risks of Jatropha and Related Crops (2009-2011). More
• Sustainability Quick Check for Biofuels (2008-2010). More
• LCA of Peruvian Biofuels (2008-). Contact
• Water use impacts of biofuels: Case study Argentina (2008). Contact
• LCA of short-rotation energy forest (2008). Contact
• Consequential LCA of Swiss Agrofuels (2007-2008). More
• KlimaPro: Simplified LCA for carbon footprints of consumer products (2007-). More
• Availability of biomass resources for 2nd generation biogas production. Contact
• CCEM-Project on 2nd Generation Biogas (2007-2010). Contact
• Research Partnership India-Switzerland "Sustainable Biofuels" (2006-). More
• Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Products: Environmental Impact Assessment of Biofuels (2005-2007). Contact
• Environmental assessment of biomass-based decentralized polygeneration - the case of Swiss residential buildings (2006). Contact
      

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