Landowners’ willingness to promote bioenergy production on wasteland − future impact on land use of cutaway peatlands
Landowners are the key players in bioenergy production on wasteland; such as cutaway peatlands. In this study, the landowner's interest to use cutaway peatlands for bioenergy production was investigated using a survey and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) methods in an area in South Ostrobothnia, Finland. The focus was to identify which different bioenergy production chains are preferred by the respondents: combustion, gasification or biogas production from agriculture, energy-willow short-rotation forestry or forestry based energy crops. Also, the influence of personal environmental values on the selection was measured and the future impacts and barriers for the land use were assessed. …
Planning land use for biogas energy crop production: The potential of cutaway peat production lands
Each year, thousands of hectares of peatland that had been harvested are being released in Finland, which can offer an opportunity to increase energy crops and attain the bioenergy targets for non-agriculture lands. In this study, the Geographic Information System (GIS) method was used to improve the assessment of decentralized renewable energy resources. The amount of peat production lands and future cutaway areas for energy crop production was calculated as a case study by using ArcGIS and the Finnish Topographic database. There are almost 1000 km2 of peat production lands in Finland, and theoretically, approximately 300 km2 of cutaway peatlands could be used for energy crops after 30 yea…
GIS-data related route optimization, hierarchical clustering, location optimization, and kernel density methods are useful for promoting distributed bioenergy plant planning in rural areas
Currently, geographic information system (GIS) models are popular for studying location-allocation-related questions concerning bioenergy plants. The aim of this study was to develop a model to investigate optimal locations for two different types of bioenergy plants, for farm and centralized biogas plants, and for wood terminals in rural areas based on minimizing transportation distances. The optimal locations of biogas plants were determined using location optimization tools in R software, and the optimal locations of wood terminals were determined using kernel density tools in ArcGIS. The present case study showed that the utilized GIS tools are useful for bioenergy-related decision-maki…
Pienten maaseutukuntien mahdollisuudet biokaasun hyödyntämiseen : esimerkkinä Soinin kunta
Biokaasua voidaan tuottaa erilaisista orgaanisista materiaaleista kuten maatalouden lannasta, jätevesistä, energiakasveista tai biojätteistä. Orgaanisista jätteistä etenkin lantaa syntyy maaseudulla merkittäviä määriä, mutta pienissä maaseutukunnissa muiden orgaanisten jätteiden materiaalivirrat voivat olla pieniä. Pienten maaseutukuntien metaanipotentiaalia tutkittiin tapauskohtaisesti Etelä-Pohjanmaalla sijaitsevassa Soinin kunnassa. Soinin biokaasun tuotannon mahdollisuudet selvitettiin kunnallisen jäteveden, erilliskerätyn biojätteen, maatalouden lannan ja nurmipotentiaalin materiaalivirtojen avulla käyttäen apuna vuosien 2011 ja 2012 tietoja. Jäteveden kuivatun lietteen, naudan lietela…