TY - GEN
T1 - Land use and geospatial aspects in life cycle assessment of renewable energy
AU - Seager, T. P.
AU - Miller, S. A.
AU - Kohn, J.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Renewable energy systems such as wind, solar and biomass are significantly more land intensive than traditional fossil fuels. Moreover, their environmental implications are highly geographically heterogeneous. Consequently, they present a significant challenge to existing life cycle assessment techniques. Four specific issues are identified in this paper: determining changes in land use due to increased production of renewable energy, characterizing land use impacts, understanding geographic variability in inventory data, and modeling energy distribution effects. This paper reviews the extent of recent research activity in each of these areas as it applies to wind, solar, bioenergy or life cycle assessment in general. Some areas, such as land use needed for distribution of wind or solar energy, have received little or no research activity, despite an increased level of concern in political or policy arenas. This deficiency will be addressed in a new National Science Foundation workshop planned for September 2009 in Boston MA.
AB - Renewable energy systems such as wind, solar and biomass are significantly more land intensive than traditional fossil fuels. Moreover, their environmental implications are highly geographically heterogeneous. Consequently, they present a significant challenge to existing life cycle assessment techniques. Four specific issues are identified in this paper: determining changes in land use due to increased production of renewable energy, characterizing land use impacts, understanding geographic variability in inventory data, and modeling energy distribution effects. This paper reviews the extent of recent research activity in each of these areas as it applies to wind, solar, bioenergy or life cycle assessment in general. Some areas, such as land use needed for distribution of wind or solar energy, have received little or no research activity, despite an increased level of concern in political or policy arenas. This deficiency will be addressed in a new National Science Foundation workshop planned for September 2009 in Boston MA.
KW - Biofuels
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Solar power
KW - Wind power
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77951020109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/ISSST.2009.5156724
DO - 10.1109/ISSST.2009.5156724
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77951020109
SN - 9781424434565
T3 - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
BT - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
T2 - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
Y2 - 18 May 2009 through 20 May 2009
ER -