The bioenergy and water nexus
Journal article, 2011

Promotion of energy from biomass for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has led to increased usage of freshwater, especially during the cultivation of biomass. This has raised concerns about the increase in water stress, particularly in countries that are already facing water shortages. Attempts are being made to characterize the effect of water demand induced inter alia by increased bioenergy usage. Also, alternatives are being developed to mitigate such impacts by improved management so that bioenergy can be beneficially utilized. Future studies on bioenergy will need to take into consideration the water aspect so that the trade-offs between climate change mitigation and water stress are addressed.

bioenergy

impacts

lca

water

energy

assessment

biofuels

footprint

climate-change

biomass

bioethanol

impacts

carbon

Author

S. H. Gheewala

Ministry of Education

King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi

Göran Berndes

Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Physical Resource Theory

G. Jewitt

University of KwaZulu-Natal

Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining

1932-104X (ISSN) 1932-1031 (eISSN)

Vol. 5 4 353-360

Subject Categories

Industrial Biotechnology

DOI

10.1002/bbb.295

More information

Created

10/8/2017