A review of the role of bioenergy modelling in renewable energy research & policy development

Abstract

Transition towards renewable low carbon energy is a fundamental element of climate change mitigation, energy from biomass technologies are targeted within many country's decarbonisation strategies. Decision makers globally face many challenges developing strategies to drive this transition; models are increasingly used to road-test policy interventions before their implemented. A Bioenergy Literature Database was developed of 124,285 papers published 2000-2018. These document an exponential rise in research focusing on biomass and bioenergy. On average 35.4% of papers apply modelling analyses, 99.5% of these use bespoke models rather than high profile Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) or Energy System Modelsalthough it is these high profile models that are widely used in policy development. A review of the role of bioenergy within energy models is undertaken with a key objective of critiquing their performances in analysing bioenergy research questions. IAMs are found to be widely applied to investigate the impact of bioenergy within wider energy and environmental systems, e.g. for reducing emissions. Energy System Models focus on bioenergy processes, technologies and feedstocks, although don't capture wider environmental, economic and social themes. Specialist Bioenergy Models offer methods for bespoke analyses of all bioenergy issues, their narrow system boundaries generate targeted outputs but wider effects such as land-use change may not be captured. Caution is required when interpreting modelling outputs, particularly when used to inform policy. It's not feasible to develop all-encompassing bioenergy models covering all nuances between systems, but there is strong argument for using multiple models in parallel to build robust overall conclusions.

Applications of artificial intelligence‐based modeling for bioenergy systems: A review

“…First, starting from 2016, the annual publications related to AI applications to bioenergy have dramatically increased. This may be explained by the increased global interest in bioenergy as an energy solution for climate change mitigation, especially after the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 (United Nations Climate Change, 2015; Welfle et al, 2020). Second, the overall increase was primarily attributed to the increase of AI applications in Category 2 for biomass conversion that seems to be aligned with the increased interest in process modeling of biomass conversion after 2014 (Welfle et al, 2020).…”

Comparative Social Life Cycle Assessment of Two Biomass-to-Electricity Systems

“…A considerable number of countries have boosted the implementation of national targets to become carbon neutral by 2050 [ 1 ]. The pivotal point of the related national plans is the transition towards low-carbon renewable energy technologies [ 2 ]. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) [ 3 ], global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions reached around 33 Gt in 2019.…”

Tagasaste, Leucaena and Paulownia. Three Industrial Crops for Energy and Hemicelluloses Production

“…European countries are increasingly concerned with sustainable, environmentally friendly production of energy, which is increasingly being obtained from renewable sources. Using wood for energy production has the added advantage that it can promote forest culturing in countries with a low forest area and help improve post-harvesting management practices in young forests [8][9][10].…”