Quantifying the Climate Impacts of Albedo Changes Due to Biofuel Production: A Comparison with Biogeochemical Effects

Caiazzo, Fabio; Malina, Robert; Staples, Mark D.; Wolfe, Philip J.; Yim, Steve Hung Lam; Barrett, Steven R. H.

doi:10.1201/b18711-9

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Higher albedo values can lead to a decrease in net radiation absorbed at the surface, which in turn lowers sensible heat flux, and consequently, reduces near-surface temperatures. This finding is in agreement with previous work (Hallgren et al 2013;Caiazzo et al 2014) that also noted regional cooling associated with perennial bioenergy crop expansion. In addition, some studies have also attributed near-surface cooling to enhanced ET (e.g., VanLoocke et al 2010) resulting from increased LAI (Le et al 2011), and deeper rooting system of perennial bioenergy crops (e.g., Georgescu et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…While biogeochemical effects (greenhouse gas uptake and emissions) of perennial bioenergy crops have been well documented (Dondini et al 2009;Gelfand et al 2013;Wagle and Kakani 2014), considerable uncertainties associated with biogeophysical impacts remain (Bagley et al 2014;Caiazzo et al 2014;Zhu et al 2017). Large-scale deployment of perennial bioenergy crops, by virtue of their transition to an altered land use, modifies biogeophysical (e.g., direct impacts due to changes in the surface energy budget) processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the Long-Term Hydroclimatic Sustainability of Perennial Bioenergy Crop Expansion over the United States

et al. 2017

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Large-scale cultivation of perennial bioenergy crops (e.g., miscanthus and switchgrass) offers unique opportunities to mitigate climate change through avoided fossil fuel use and associated greenhouse gas reduction. Although conversion of existing agriculturally intensive lands (e.g., maize and soy) to perennial bioenergy cropping systems has been shown to reduce near-surface temperatures, unintended consequences on natural water resources via depletion of soil moisture may offset these benefits. The hydroclimatic impacts associated with perennial bioenergy crop expansion over the contiguous United States are quantified using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model dynamically coupled to a land surface model (LSM). A suite of continuous (2000-09) medium-range resolution (20-km grid spacing) ensemble-based simulations is conducted using seasonally evolving biophysical representation of perennial bioenergy cropping systems within the LSM based on observational data. Deployment is carried out only over suitable abandoned and degraded farmlands to avoid competition with existing food cropping systems. Results show that near-surface cooling (locally, up to 5°C) is greatest during the growing season over portions of the central United States. For some regions, principal impacts are restricted to a reduction in near-surface temperature (e.g., eastern portions of the United States), whereas for other regions deployment leads to soil moisture reduction in excess of 0.15-0.2 m 3 m −3 during the simulated 10-yr period (e.g., western Great Plains). This reduction (~25%-30% of available soil moisture) manifests as a progressively decreasing trend over time. The large-scale focus of this research demonstrates the long-term hydroclimatic sustainability of large-scale deployment of perennial bioenergy crops across the continental United States, revealing potential hot spots of suitable deployment and regions to avoid. RightsWorks produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. ABSTRACT Large-scale cultivation of perennial bioenergy crops (e.g., miscanthus and switchgrass) offers unique opportunities to mitigate climate change through avoided fossil fuel use and associated greenhouse gas reduction. Although conversion of existing agriculturally intensive lands (e.g., maize and soy) to perennial bioenergy cropping systems has been shown to reduce near-surface temperatures, unintended consequences on natural water resources via depletion of soil moisture may offset these benefits. The hydroclimatic impacts associated with perennial bioenergy crop expansion over the contiguous United States are quantified using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model dynamically coupled to a land surface model (LSM). A suite of continuous (2000-09) medium-range resolution (20-km grid spacing) ensemble-based simulations is conducted using seasonally evolving biophysical representation of perennial bioenergy cropping syst...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Long-Term Hydroclimatic Sustainability of Perennial Bioenergy Crop Expansion over the United States

et al. 2017

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“…In addition to possible emissions of GHGs, changes in surface albedo (the ratio between reflected and incident solar radiation at the surface) have direct global climate implications, which are usually of opposite sign to those of CO 2 . Albedo changes can be converted to CO 2 equivalents using either carbon equivalent factors or conventional emission metrics like the GWP or GTP Cherubini et al 2013;Caiazzo et al 2014. The Global Warming Task Force argues for an active consideration of these issues by the LCA community.…”

Section: Process and Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators: progress and case study

Frischknecht

Fantke

Tschümperlin

et al. 2016

Int J Life Cycle Assess

116

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Purpose The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) guidance flagship project of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative aims at providing global guidance and building scientific consensus on environmental LCIA indicators. This paper presents the progress made since 2013, preliminary results obtained for each impact category, and the description of a rice life cycle assessment (LCA) case study designed to test and compare LCIA indicators. MethodsThe effort has been focused in a first stage on impacts of global warming, fine particulate matter emissions, water use and land use, plus cross-cutting issues and LCA-based footprints. The paper reports the process and progress and specific results obtained in the different task forces (TF). Additionally, a rice LCA case study common to all TF has been developed. Three distinctly different scenarios of producing and cooking rice have been defined and underlined with life cycle inventory data. These LCAs help testing impact category indicators which are being developed and/or selected in the harmonisation process. The rice LCA case study further helps to ensure the practicality of the finally recommended impact category indicators. ResultsThe global warming TF concludes that analysts should explore the sensitivity of LCA results to metrics other than GWP. The particulate matter TF attained initial guidance of how to include health effects from PM 2.5 exposures consistently into LCIA. The biodiversity impacts of land use TF suggests to consider complementary metrics besides species richness for assessing biodiversity loss. The water use TF is evaluating two stress-based metrics, AWaRe and an alternative indicator by a stakeholder consultation. The cross-cutting issues TF agreed upon maintaining DALY as endpoint unit for the safeguard subject "human health". The footprint TF defined main attributes that should characterise all footprint indicators. "Rice cultivation" and "Cooking" stages of the rice LCA case study contribute most to the environmental impacts assessed. ConclusionsThe results of the TF will be documented in white papers and some published in scientific journals. These white papers represent the input for the Pellston workshop TM , taking place in Valencia, Spain from 24 to 29 January 2016, where best practice, harmonised LCIA indicators and an update on the general LCIA framework will be discussed and agreed on. With the diversity in results and the multi-tier supply chains the rice LCA case study is well suited to test candidate recommended indicators and to ensure their applicability in common LCA case studies.

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“…Albedo can be an important contributor to the life cycle climate impact of bioenergy. LCA studies show that changes in albedo may cause radiative forcing (RF) of similar magnitude to the RF of net GHG emissions in a bioenergy system (Cai et al, 2016; Caiazzo et al, 2014; Cherubini, Bright, & Stromman, 2012). However, the importance of albedo depends on a range of case‐specific factors such as local climate, insolation, soil type, vegetation, management and yield.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These time‐dependent LCA methods have been used to compare the impact of GHGs with different lifetimes, account for the timing of emissions and include temporary storage of biogenic carbon. To our knowledge, few LCA studies have applied time‐dependent methods to albedo using RF as a metric (Bright, Stromman, & Peters, 2011; Cherubini et al, 2012; Jørgensen, Cherubini, & Michelsen, 2014), whereas the majority has used GWP (Arvesen et al, 2018; Cai et al, 2016; Caiazzo et al, 2014; Meyer, Bright, Fischer, Schulz, & Glaser, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Including albedo in time‐dependent LCA of bioenergy

et al. 2020

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Albedo change during feedstock production can substantially alter the life cycle climate impact of bioenergy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have compared the effects of albedo and greenhouse gases (GHGs) based on global warming potential (GWP). However, using GWP leads to unequal weighting of climate forcers that act on different timescales. In this study, albedo was included in the time-dependent LCA, which accounts for the timing of emissions and their impacts. We employed field-measured albedo and life cycle emissions data along with time-dependent models of radiative transfer, biogenic carbon fluxes and nitrous oxide emissions from soil. Climate impacts were expressed as global mean surface temperature change over time (∆T) and as GWP. The bioenergy system analysed was heat and power production from short-rotation willow grown on former fallow land in Sweden. We found a net cooling effect in terms of ∆T per hectare (−3.8 × 10 -11 K in year 100) and GWP 100 per MJ fuel (−12.2 g CO 2 e), as a result of soil carbon sequestration via high inputs of carbon from willow roots and litter. Albedo was higher under willow than fallow, contributing to the cooling effect and accounting for 34% of GWP 100 , 36% of ∆T in year 50 and 6% of ∆T in year 100. Albedo dominated the short-term temperature response (10-20 years) but became, in relative terms, less important over time, owing to accumulation of soil carbon under sustained production and the longer perturbation lifetime of GHGs. The timing of impacts was explicit with ∆T, which improves the relevance of LCA results to climate targets. Our method can be used to quantify the first-order radiative effect of albedo change on the global climate and relate it to the climate impact of GHG emissions in LCA of bioenergy, alternative energy sources or land uses. K E Y W O R D Salbedo, bioenergy, climate impact, greenhouse gases, land use change, LCA, life cycle assessment, willow

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Quantifying the Climate Impacts of Albedo Changes Due to Biofuel Production: A Comparison with Biogeochemical Effects

Cited by 11 publications

References 45 publications

On the Long-Term Hydroclimatic Sustainability of Perennial Bioenergy Crop Expansion over the United States

On the Long-Term Hydroclimatic Sustainability of Perennial Bioenergy Crop Expansion over the United States

Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators: progress and case study

Including albedo in time‐dependent LCA of bioenergy

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