Short rotation forestry and methods for carbon accounting. A case study of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantation in central Italy
The call for strategies to fight global warming is one of the main drivers of a new interest and global attention in biomass-based energy production and specifically in ad hoc energy plantations. In fact these plantations offer double positive input to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: providing feed-stocks for bioenergy to displace fossil fuel use and storing carbon in biomass and soil. In fact, there is a key difference between energy production from fossil fuels and from biomass. The combustion of fossil fuels releases into the atmosphere the CO2 that has been locked for millions of years into underground geological formations. By contrast, the combustion of biomass from new plantations returns to the atmosphere the CO2 absorbed by plants in recent times, and—supposed that no indirect land-use change occurs, the production cycle and the use of the resources are maintained over time—this does not cause an overall increase of CO2. This report firstly describes the concepts beyond the role that woody energy plantations may have on reducing GHG emission. Subsequently it presents the methods to estimate GHG emissions used in existing accounting systems and their application to bioenergy systems, in particular to the establishment and management of short rotation forestry plantations. In particular the study examines methodologies from the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry and the current IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The survey also presents some of the recent discussions about limits and gaps of current accounting methods for bioenergy systems. Finally the report presents a specific case of a short rotation forestry plantations of black locust on a former abandoned cropland, for assessing the carbon sequestration in forest biomass, soils and products.
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Rome (Italy) ISPRA
2014
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| Subjects: | silvicultural systems, forest plantations, wood energy, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gases, emission reduction, Robinia pseudoacacia, crop rotation, felling cycle, coppice system, case studies, |
| Online Access: | http://www.isprambiente.gov.it/files/pubblicazioni/rapporti/R_200_14_Short_rotation_forestry_def.pdf |
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