Bioenergy Primer Modernised Biomass Energy For Sustainable Dev 2000

2000·1.41 MB·English

B I O E N E R G Y P R I M E R
United Nations
M O D E R N I S E D B I O M A S S E N E R G Y
Development Programme
Bureau for Development Policy
F O R S U S TA I N A B L E
Energy and Atmosphere Programme
304 East 45th Street - New York, NY 10017 D E V E L O P M E N T
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Website: http://www.undp.org/seed/eap
United Nations Publications
UN Sales number E.00.III.B.6
ISBN number 92-1-126127-9
Copyright © 2000 by the United Nations Development Programme
1 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
B I O E N E R G Y P R I M E R
M O D E R N I S E D B I O M A S S E N E R G Y
F O R S U S TA I N A B L E
D E V E L O P M E N T
United Nations Development Programme
with support from
the Government of Norway
Authors
Sivan Kartha Eric D. Larson
United Nations Development Programme
The views expressed in this volume are not necessarily shared by
UNDP, its Executive Board, or its Member States.
United Nations Publications
UN Sales number: E.00.III.B.6
ISBN number: 92-1-126127-9
Copyright © 2000 by the United Nations Development Programme
1 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
Printed in Denmark by Phønix-Trykkeriet A/S, Århus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 Acknowledgements
6 Notes on Authors
7 Foreword
9 Executive Summary
27 Introduction: Energy and Sustainable Human Development
Chapter 1
1.1. Promoting Sustainable Human Development through Bioenergy
1.2. Biomass Energy Today: Developing and Industrialised Countries
1.3. Modernising Biomass Energy
1.4. A Long Term Vision of Biomass Energy
1.5. A Roadmap for this Primer
References for Chapter 1
39 Bioenergy Sources
Chapter 2
2.1. Residues and Wastes
2.2. Purpose-Grown Energy Crops
References for Chapter 2
49 Socioeconomic Issues
Chapter 3
3.1. Meeting the Basic Needs of the Rural Poor
3.2. Creating Opportunities for Income Generation
3.3. Gender Impacts
3.4. Land Use Competition and Land Tenure
3.5. Socioeconomic Indicators for Evaluating a Project
65 Environmental Issues
Chapter 4
4.1. Soil Quality and Fertility
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4.2. Biodiversity
4.3. Energy Balances
4.4. Carbon Emissions
4.5. Hydrology
4.6. Chemical Loading of Soil and Ground/Surface Water
4.7. Restoring Degraded Land
4.8. Environmental Indicators for Evaluating a Project
References for Chapters 3 and 4
83 Technologies To Convert Biomass Into Modern Energy
Chapter 5
5.1. Gasification
5.2. Anaerobic Digestion
5.3. Ethanol from Sugarcane
5.4. Steam Turbine Combined Heat and Power
5.5. Gas Turbine Combined Cycle CHP
References for Chapter 5
113 Implementation and Replication
Chapter 6
6.1. Institutions
6.2. Replicating a Bioenergy Project: Key Elements
References for Chapter 6
119 Case Studies:Biomass Projects in Action
Chapter 7
7.1. Biogas-Based Electricity and Water Supply in Indian Villages
7.2. Sustainable Transformation of Rural Areas in India
7.3. Projects Using Producer-Gas/IC-Engine Technology in India
7.4. Rural Energy Concessions: Pilot Programs
7.5. Modernising Corn Stover Use in Rural Jilin Province, China
7.6. Producing Ethanol from Sugarcane in Brazil
7.7. Cogeneration of Heat and Power at Sugarcane Processing Facilities
7.8. Biomass-Gasifier/Gas Turbine Power Generation in Northeast Brazil
7.9. Farm Forestry in Rural Brazil
7.10. Social Forestry in India
References for Chapter 7
132 Information Sources
4 BIOENERGY PRIMER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Bioenergy Primer was prepared by the Energy and Atmosphere Programme (EAP),
Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) of the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP). UNDP is greatly indebted to the authors, Drs. Sivan Kartha and Eric Larson,
for their thorough and comprehensive contributions. Many thanks are also extended to
all the reviewers, who provided insightful suggestions on the publication. In particular,
the primer benefited from valuable comments by the following people: Christian Azar,
Pal Borjesson, Suani Coelho, Andre Faaij, David Fazzino, Gerald Leach, Roberto
Lenton, Peter Matlon, Susan McDade, Ellen Morris, Emmanuel Oladipo, Susanne
Schmidt, Youba Sokona, Minoru Takada, Lori Ann Thrupp, and Samir S. Wanmali.
UNDP is also grateful to Rosemarie Philips and Barry Boehm, who undertook the
editing and proof-reading of the publication. Special thanks are due to Dorothy Miller,
for cover and page layout, and graphic design. This project was managed by
Minoru Takada, Ellen Morris, Sean Clark and Susan McDade under the direction of
Professor Thomas Johansson, Director, EAP.
UNDP wishes to thank the Government of Norway for their support towards the
production of this Bioenergy Primer.
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NOTES ON AUTHORS
Sivan Karthais a Senior Scientist at the Boston office of the Stockholm Environment
Institute. His interests relate to energy policy, climate change, and development. His
research and publications pertain to the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of
biomass energy in developing countries. He is also specialised in global policy
instruments for responding to climate change and strategies for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, renewable energy technologies and technology transfer, and the links
between energy and development. He earned his Ph.D in physics from Cornell
University in 1993 and was a researcher at Princeton University’s Center for Energy and
Environmental Studies before taking his current position. Email: [email protected].
URL: www.tellus.org/seib
Eric D. Larson is a Research Engineer at the Center for Energy and Environmental
Studies, Princeton University. His research includes technical, economic, and policy-
related assessments of a variety technologies and strategies for modernising the
production and use of biomass for energy in developing and industrialised countries. He
currently leads the biomass research program of the Center's Energy Technology
Assessment/Energy Policy Analysis group. He is the author of 140 publications. He also
teaches in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. His Ph.D. is in
mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota.Email: [email protected].
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~cees/people/elarson.html
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FOREWORD
There is an unmistakable link between energy and sustainable human development.
Energy is not an end in itself, but an essential tool to facilitate social and economic
activities. Thus, the lack of available energy services correlates closely with many
challenges of sustainable development, such as poverty alleviation, the advancement of
women, protection of the environment, and jobs creation. Emphasis on institution-
building and enhanced policy dialogue is necessary to create the social, economic, and
politically enabling conditions for a transition to a more sustainable future.
Most of those without access to modern energy services belong to the segment of the
human population that lives in poverty. Although low energy consumption is not a cause
of poverty, the lack of available energy services correlates closely with many poverty
indicators. To date, poverty has received scant attention from an energy perspective.
This is particularly remarkable since energy is central to the satisfaction of basic
nutrition and health needs, and energy services constitute a sizable share of total
household expenditure among the poorest households in developing countries. Policies
and programmes that aim to create opportunities for people living in poverty are needed.
By making more efficient use of commercial and non-commercial energy and by
shifting to higher quality energy carriers, it will be possible to simultaneously improve
those people’s standard of living, in both the short term and long term.
Biomass energy technologies are a promising option, with a potentially large impact for
developing countries, where the current levels of energy services are low. Biomass
accounts for about one third of all energy in developing countries as a whole, and nearly
90 percent in some of the least developed countries. Over 2 billion people continue to
rely on biomass fuels and traditional technologies for cooking and heating and 1.5-2
billion people have no access to electricity.
Through improved efficiency and increased utilisation of renewable energy sources,
energy can become a crucial instrument for achieving UNDP’s primary goals. In 1996,
the Executive Committee adopted the UNDP Initiative for Sustainable Energy (UNISE)
as UNDP's corporate policy on sustainable energy. UNISE is a strategy to place energy
within the sustainable human development paradigm. It relates energy to UNDP’s
thematic areas and programme goals and outlines how energy programmes and projects
can become instrumental in achieving sustainable development.
Modernised biomass has great potential to provide improved rural energy services
based on agricultural residues/biomass. Widespread use of modernised biomass for
cooking and combined heat and power (CHP) generation in rural areas can address
multiple social, economic and environmental bottlenecks that now constrain local
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development. The availability of low-cost biomass power in rural areas could help
provide cleaner, more efficient energy services to support local development, promote
environmental protection, stem the use of coal as a home fuel, and improve the living
conditions of rural people, especially women and children who currently face air
pollution associated with indoor burning of agricultural residues.
Under the framework of UNISE, the Bioenergy Primer is designed to help facilitate the
practical realisation of sustainable modernised bioenergy activities, including the
technical, policy, and institutional aspects. It is driven by the observations that
bioenergy is a vastly important part of the world's energy system, and that bioenergy
systems, if appropriately designed and implemented, have great promise for
contributing to sustainable human development. The Bioenergy Primer can act as a
catalyst for strategic policy shifts and breakthrough solutions that will make a difference
in the struggle for human development. Collateral activities such as capacity-building,
knowledge-networking, policy formulation, the development of regulatory and legal
frameworks, and enhanced institutional capacity can promote bioenergy as an important
potential contributor to sustainable energy strategies.
The Bioenergy Primer provides guidance to UNDP programme officers, local
governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, and the broader development
community. It offers assistance in facilitating projects that demonstrate sustainable,
modernised biomass energy systems; developing the appropriate institutional
frameworks; and piloting new approaches. With discussion of traditional approaches to
biomass as background, the Primer presents promising new biomass technologies,
including in-depth analyses of their respective characteristics and their relationship to
UNDP's sustainable development objectives. In addition to institutional considerations,
the Primer offers case studies from various countries to illustrate operational aspects of
bioenergy projects.
Developing countries have considerable potential to use renewable biomass energy to
contribute to socio-economic development. The widespread geographic distribution of
biomass, combined with its potential to be converted into modern energy carriers and
its competitive costs, make it a promising option. The authors make a convincing case
for the opportunities available with biomass, and they lay the foundation for programme
development in this important area.
Eimi Watanabe
Assistant Administrator and Director
Bureau for Development Policy
United Nations Development Programme
8 BIOENERGY PRIMER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
Roughly one third of the world’s population—more than two billion
people—have little or no access to modern energy services. A majority of these people live
…energy is not an end in
in poverty. The acute symptoms of this poverty, as well as its chronic causes, are critically
itself, but rather a means to
linked in many ways to today’s patterns of energy production and use. Recognising that
achieve the goal of existing energy systems are not sustainable, the United Nations Development Programme
sustainable human created the Sustainable Energy and Environment Division, which has initiated a Global
development… Programme in Sustainable Energy. This Primer is one product of the Global Programme.
A fundamental premise of the Global Programme in Sustainable Energy is thatenergy is not
an end in itself, but rather a means to achieve the goal of sustainable human development.
Sustainable human development requires a focus on improving the access of the poor to
assets, goods, and services, including food (and the means to prepare it), water for drinking
and irrigation, adequate shelter, health care, sanitation, education, and employment.
Energy can play a critical role, but conventional energy strategies that rely on supply-
focused, fossil-intensive, large-scale approaches do not address the needs of the poor.
As Reddy, Williams, and Johansson (1997) point out:
…Not only is energy one of the determinants of these problems, but actions
relating to energy can contribute to their alleviation, if not solution.
Implementing sustainable energy strategies is one of the most important levers
humankind has for creating a sustainable world. Energy must therefore be an
instrument for the achievement of sustainable development…
Bioenergy—that is, energy that is derived from wood and other plant matter—is an
important potential contributor to sustainable energy strategies, particularly when
converted to modern energy carriers such as electricity and liquid and gaseous fuels.
The purpose of this document is to help countries and communities realise bioenergy’s
potential. It is based on two premises:
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(1) bioenergy is an important part of today’s imperfect energy system, and U
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(2) modernised bioenergy systems, if appropriately designed and E
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implemented, have great promise for contributing to future U
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X
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BIOENERGY PRIMER 9