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1 Land Requirements of Alternative Energy Sources
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This chapter examines the land intensiveness of energy production, the land requirements for meeting a significant portion of energy demand, and the constraints on land availability for various resource types. Many renewable energy sources will necessarily be located distant from the centers of energy demand, requiring expanded electricity transmis...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... this chapter focuses on 2010 energy demand because it is a more familiar number, it is important to remember that energy demand will continue to grow as the global population grows and people become more affluent. Figure 5.1 summarizes a thought experiment that estimates the land require- ments by energy resource type to meet 10 percent and 100 percent of 2010 global energy demand, based on current conversion technologies. This hypothetical snap- shot reveals that the land use differences among resource types vary by orders of magnitude. ...
Context 2
... should be most visible in Iowa, the U.S. state at the epicenter of the corn ethanol boom. Figure 5.2 shows the pattern of annual percentage changes in inflation-adjusted agricul- tural land prices in Iowa since 1951. ...
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... 3� 4� 5� 6� 7� 8� 9� 10� 11� 12� 13� 14� 15� 16� 17� 18� 19� 20� 21� 22� 23� 24� 25� 26� 27� 28� 29� 30� 31� 32� 33� 34� 35� 36� 37� 38� 39� 40� 41� 42� 43� 2� 3� 4� 5� 6� 7� 8� 9� 10� 11� 12� 13� 14� 15� 16� 17� 18� 19� 20� 21� 22� 23� 24� 25� 26� 27� 28� 29� 30� 31� 32� 33� 34� 35� 36� 37� 38� 39� 40� 41� 42� 43� from either side of the Atlantic Ocean. Figure 5.3 illustrates the Desertec concept, which involves installing large solar thermal energy systems in the Sahara and Arabian deserts and delivering that energy to Europe via approximately 20 high- voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines. Figure 5.4 shows a more incre- mentalist vision to connect wind resources in the U.S. heartland with load centers on the coasts, using dozens of additions to the existing AC network. ...
Citations
... Nevertheless, in the recent decades and even in the present time, continuous efforts have been made to replace the use of coal with various alternative energy sources (solar, hydro, wind, nuclear) [23][24][25]. The use of coal as a fossil fuel resource and the damage caused by its use to the environment and human health will be discussed in the next issues of ChemTexts. ...
As probably the most complex natural (geological) material, as well as a parent of the industrial revolution and the most important source of heat and electricity in the world, coal has attracted and continues to attract special attention of scientists and the entire world population. In this context, this lecture text is intended to provide both chemistry and geology students as well as teachers of courses on the chemistry and geology of coal with a solid background of the chemistry and geology of coal. Various aspects of coal chemistry are covered, including the nature of coal, its composition, coking, gasification, liquefaction and production of chemicals. Coal geology concerns major eras of coal formation as well as the processes of peatification, coalification and the chemical processes of coalification, coal types and their properties, coal lithotypes and coal ranks. Each of these topics is an important subject in its own, and this text is aimed to give only a brief overview of each, emphasising the relationship between the geology and chemistry of coal.
Graphical Abstract
... Acquiring this extra land for renewable energy production and accompanying infrastructure is a complicated issue due to the impact renewable energy sources have on existing land uses. Andrews et al. (2011) discusses the general impact of renewable energy sources and their land use, which comprehends siting issues of renewable energy sources near to residential areas. Ek (2005), Musall andKuik (2011) Zoellner, Schweizer-Ries, andWemheuer (2008), all found that land use issues associated with renewable energy development such as noise and sighting issues have a major influence on whether a project will be successful or not. ...
Governments all over the world experience institutional conflicts in transforming their fossil-based energy system into a more renewable one. Between national, regional, and local tiers of government tensions rise on meeting renewable energy objectives. Under the institutional arrangement of subsidiarity, decisions on renewable energy policy objectives are taken on the international level, while the implementation of policy increasingly becomes a local responsibility. In this paper, we use an institutional framework to analyze the tensions in interactions between tiers of governments on four cases of Dutch wind energy policy implementation. The analysis offers insights into how tensions emerge in top-down wind energy policy implementation in the Netherlands. Within the four cases, tensions between government tiers are found, serving to constrain local tiers of government to implement local policy and object to top-down development. The results indicate that local issues aren’t sufficiently addressed in higher-tier government policies.
... Aquí deben destacarse los estudios recientes sobre la dispersión energética (energy sprawl), que miden o calculan particularmente el impacto ecológico y territorial de proyectos eólicos, solares y bioenergéticos (Andrews et al., 2011;González-Eguino et al., 2017;Hernández et al., 2015;Kiesecker et al., 2009;McDonald et al., 2009;Rehbein et al., 2020;Stevens et al., 2017;Trainor et al., 2016). Surge un conflicto entre conservación forestal, biodiversidad y desarrollo energético que no pasó desapercibido para David Pimentel (Pimentel et al., 1994;Pimentel et al., 2002). ...
Se crítica el planteamiento de la transición energética, ya que ignora los impactos ecológicos, ambientales y territoriales de las denominadas energías limpias, verdes, sostenibles o renovables, esto por concentrarse en los impactos de los combustibles de origen fósil y la energía nuclear. Considerando la importancia del factor suelo para instrumentar la transición, se proponen las nociones: i) energía regionalmente disponible, ii) región energética del asentamiento, iii) reservas territoriales energéticas. Se sugiere retomar la noción de ecodesarrollo y su búsqueda de tecnología adecuada para diseñar e instrumentar una política energética coherente para las condiciones de cada país y de cada región dentro de cada país.
... Presento en la Tabla 1 una síntesis de temas principales basado en Andrews et al. (2011), Burchell & Listokin (1982), Byrne et al. (2017), Capello et al. (1999), Carroll & Udell (1982, Cheng & Hammond (2017); Cope et al. (1984), Droege (2006), González-Eguino et al. (2017), Gupta & Hall (2011), Häfele (1981), Hall et al. Odum & Odum (1981, 2001, OECD (1995), Outka (2010Outka ( , 2012, Owens (1986), Pérez-Denicia et al. (2017), Pimentel et al. (1994), Pimentel et al. (2002, Pollock (1982), Purvis (2004b), Rao & Sastri (1987), Rehbein et al. (2020), Sacchelli et al. (2016), Smil (2003Smil ( , 2008Smil ( , 2010aSmil ( , 2010b, Stevens et al. (2017), Trainer (2008, Trainor et al. (2016), UN (1973UN ( , 1981UN ( , 1987, UNDESA (1957,1962), UNDP, UNDESA & WEC (2000), Van Til (1982), Van Zalk & Behrens (2018), Walker (1995), y Wu (2018) Hall et al. (1986), Odum & Odum (1981, 2001, Reynolds (2002) y Smil (2003, 2008, 2010a, 2010b presentan estudios comprensivos y críticos sobre los recursos energéticos en general. ...
La dispersión energética es un desafío ignorado por la mayoría de los académicos, analistas, formuladores de políticas y planificadores, aunque desde las décadas de 1970 y 1980 algunas publicaciones advierten sobre los límites territoriales de la energía renovable, particularmente la solar, la eólica y la biomasa. Hay suposiciones erróneas sobre estas tecnologías: no son blandas, limpias, sostenibles e incluso renovables. El “camino suave” (soft path) se construyó conceptualmente en la década de 1970 como una oposición a los combustibles fósiles “duros” (hard), contaminantes y riesgosos, y a la energía nuclear, ignorando sus propios límites: condiciones climáticas, recolección en ciudades de alta densidad, costos, ecológicos/ambientales, intermitencia, suelo, rendimiento neto de energía, sociales y falta de fiabilidad. La escasez de suelo define un límite para la energía solar y eólica “inagotables” y el despliegue de sistemas energéticos en general. El análisis de la transición energética desde una perspectiva territorial plantea cuestiones epistemológicas que tienen implicaciones teóricas y políticas.
... Some of the latter also see constraints, but think that technological progress will solve them. Table 1 a synthesis of main issues based on Andrews et al. (2011), Burchell & Listokin (1982), Byrne et al. (2017), Capello et al. (1999), Carroll & Udell (1982), Cheng & Hammond (2017); Cope et al. (1984), Droege (2006), González-Eguino et al. (2017), Gupta & Hall (2011), Häfele (1981), Hall et al. (1986) , Hayden 6 (2002), Hayes (1977), Hernandez et al. (2015), Jones et al. (2015), Kaza & Curtis (2014), Kiesecker & Naugle (2017), Konadu et al. (2015), MacLeary (1981), Mara (1984), McCasker & Clark (1980), McDonald et al. (2009), Moore-O'Leary et al. (2017), Odum & Odum (1981, 2001, OECD (1995), Outka (2010, 2012), Owens (1986, Pérez-Denicia et al. (2017), Pimentel et al. (1994), Pimentel et al. (2002), Pollock (1982), Purvis (2004b), Rao & Sastri (1987), Rehbein et al. (2020), Sacchelli et al. (2016), Smil (2003Smil ( , 2008Smil ( , 2010aSmil ( , 2010b, Stevens et al. (2017), Trainer (2008), Trainor et al. (2016), UN (1973UN ( , 1981UN ( , 1987, UNDESA (1957UNDESA ( , 1962, UNDP, UNDESA & WEC (2000), Van Til (1982), Van Zalk & Behrens (2018), Walker (1995), and Wu (2018) (see Appendix). Hall et al. (1986), Odum & Odum (1981, 2001, Reynolds (2002), and Smil (2003and Smil ( , 2008and Smil ( , 2010aand Smil ( , 2010b present comprehensive and critical studies on energy resources in general. ...
... So, the world can run on solar, wind, marine, geothermal, hydropower and biomass energy. UN (1981UN ( , 1987UN ( , 1993UN ( , 2015 highlights the energy mix, as Andrews et al. (2011), Beatley (2007, and Fritsche et al. (2017). ...
Energy sprawl is a challenge ignored by most academics, analysts, policymakers and planners, although since the 1970s and 1980s some publications warn about the land constraints of renewable energy, particularly solar, wind and biomass. There are wrong assumptions about these technologies: they are not soft, clean, sustainable, and even renewable. The 'soft path' was constructed in the 1970s as an opposition to polluting and risky 'hard' fossil fuels and nuclear energy, ignoring its own constraints: climatic conditions, collection in high-density cities, costs, ecological/environmental, intermittency, land, net energy yielding, social, and unreliability. Land scarcity defines a limitation for 'inexhaustible' solar and wind energy and the deployment of energy systems in general. Analysing the energy transition from a territorial perspective raises epistemological questions that have theoretical and policy implications.
... Acquiring this extra land for renewable energy production and accompanying infrastructure is a complicated issue due to the impact renewable energy sources have on existing land uses. Andrews et al. (2011) discusses the general impact of renewable energy sources and their land use, which comprehends siting issues of renewable energy sources near to residential areas. Ek (2005), Musall andKuik (2011) Zoellner, Schweizer-Ries, andWemheuer (2008), all found that land use issues associated with renewable energy development such as noise and sighting issues have a major influence on whether a project will be successful or not. ...
Governments all over the world experience institutional conflicts in transforming their fossil-based energy system into a more renewable one. Between national, regional, and local tiers of government tensions rise on meeting renewable energy objectives. Under the institutional arrangement of subsidiarity, decisions on renewable energy policy objectives are taken on the international level, while the implementation of policy increasingly becomes a local responsibility. In this paper, we use an institutional framework to analyze the tensions in interactions between tiers of governments on four cases of Dutch wind energy policy implementation. The analysis offers insights into how tensions emerge in top-down wind energy policy implementation in the Netherlands. Within the four cases, tensions between government tiers are found, serving to constrain local tiers of government to implement local policy and object to top-down development. The results indicate that local issues aren’t sufficiently addressed in higher-tier government policies.
... (pp. 117-119) Un estudio realizado por el Lincoln Institute of Land Policy sobre las fuentes renovables y el uso del suelo apunta en este sentido, reconociendo los límites físicos (Andrews et al., 2011). El enfoque urbano-energético anterior al discurso del alarmismo climático es más apropiado (ver los Antecedentes conceptuales). ...
Se presenta la noción de posecologismo —diferente a la elaborada por Michael Shellenberger y Ted Nordhaus— para señalar vacíos, errores y excesos del ecologismo y la inviabilidad del proyecto que propone para superar la sobrepoblación, contaminación y agotamiento de recursos y así lograr la gestión de la sostenibilidad. Esta crítica se entiende como característica de una etapa posterior a la posmodernidad, ya que en ella el ecologismo se convirtió en ideología hegemónica, basada desde finales de la década de 1980 en la idea de la catástrofe climática, ignorando la variabilidad natural del clima, los límites de las energías renovables y la importancia de tratar la cuestión energética como un problema en sí mismo, la cual definirá el futuro.
... The potential contribution of biomass as a renewable energy feedstock is unclear, but is estimated to vary from 10% to 30% [34]. The limiting factor for the biomass is the arable land required for its production, making it unlikely to become a dominant energy source, but a possible energy source for some niche markets [2]. ...
The maritime sector has thrived on using fossil hydrocarbon fuels, such as heavy fuel oil (HFO) and marine diesel oil (MDO). These fuels allowed vessels to carry large amounts of cargo over large distances, due to their high energy density. However, the climate objectives of the Paris agreement and the ever-tightening legislation regarding harmful emissions, such as nitrogen oxides (NO X), sulphur oxides (SO X) and particulate matter (PM) require the phasing out of fossil fuels. The production of a renewable replacement for diesel is costly and requires a source of carbon. Therefore, renewable alternatives are most likely less energy dense than the diesel that is currently used. The transition to non-fossil energy carriers will thus be challenging for vessels that have a high power density, require a large autonomy, operate globally and/or have a challenging fuel logistics. This paper presents a pathway to a carbon neutral maritime sector with nearly no harmful emissions. This transition calls for the development and implementation of clean and efficient energy conversion technologies on board vessels. In addition, efficient and cost effective production of alternative fuels is required, as well as the development of an adequate bunker infrastructure. Government policies to subsidise clean solutions and, if needed, tax emissions, need to be put in place to support these developments. These actions are preferably taken sooner rather than later, since vessels have a relatively long service life and, subsequently, a slow replacement rate. Alternative energy carriers and drive system technologies are assessed based on their technology readiness and environmental impact. Each alternative is judged based on the total costs of ownership, as there is a trade-off between the technical developments, emission legislation, investment and the operational costs. The effect of government policy on the viability of the alternatives is also demonstrated.
... The main disadvantage of renewable energy sources is that they have an extremely low energy density in comparison with non-renewable sources such as coal or natural gas (Table 2). Consequently, if global energy demand is to be covered entirely from renewable sources in the future an extensive amount of space will be required to install the necessary energy generation capacity (Andrews, Dewey-Mattia, Schechtman, & Mayr, 2011). Floating technology provides the opportunity to move these large scale plants onto the globally widely available water surfaces and provides a number of specific benefits to the individual technologies. ...
In the coming decades humanity will be confronted with a number of complex challenges affecting the prosperity and livelihood of billions of people around the globe. The root of these challenges lies in the downright explosion in global population over the last decades combined with a staggering increase of urbanization rates leading to an unprecedented level of demand for food, water, materials and space. Consequently, growing scarcity of essential resources are an ever increasing threat towards global peace and stability. This conflict potential is exacerbated by global warming and the associated sea level rise, which can once again be traced back to the rapidly growing demand for energy and food of the world's economies. In this paper we develop a comprehensive chain of cause and effect surrounding these global developments. Furthermore, we discuss how floating infrastructure, through its application to renewable energy generation, food production, flood protection and even urban expansion, is capable of decoupling multiple linkages in the chain, thus presenting itself as a promising mid- to long-term strategy for addressing these global challenges.
... The scaling of land use effects, the land-ocean, land-atmosphere teleconnections are established. Land use is also relevant for abiotic processes like air pollution, renewable energy deployment and mining (Wood, 1990;Schechtman et al., 2011;Hilson, 2002). ...
There is a need for enterprises to incorporate information on the environment into decision making and to take action on ecological restoration. Within academia, a comprehensive understanding of the impacts on how business can serve sustainability transformation is still lacking as diverging holistic approaches and reductive approaches cloud academic thinking. The authors take a science-policy interface perspective to cover the role of cognitive proximity, matching and coordination of scientific knowledge from diverse stakeholders for effective policy making and implementation. We show through a literature review that temporal and spatial scales, soil and land degradation, institutions and ecosystem, and the role of human behavior and narrative are not adequately emphasized in sustainability research. A scale-based picture, focusing on landscapes, institutions and practices is proposed which can be used to align diverse fields by acting as "bridge" for improved science policy interface and decision making, facilitated through cognitive proximity, matching, and coordination. A case study on a business association from South India is used to demonstrate the scales based approach in practice. A scale-based approach can play a key role in connecting human behaviour, a social science thematic topic, with ecosystems , a natural science thematic topic.
