165
Economics of Phytoremediation
general price for biomass that contains cellulose. Paper products can be made
from Miscanthus. Large quantities of biomass are used in many parts of the
world for making many types of paper.
As greater efforts are made to reduce GHG emissions, more policies to
encourage renewable sources of energy may be approved. If the combustion
of coal would have a charge of $42/Mg of carbon dioxide added to it for each
Mg = mega gram produced, this would make using Miscanthus biomass in a
coal-fired power plant much more competitive because the cost of using coal
would more than double in the USA.
Miscanthus and other biomass crops that may be produced using phytoremediation at a contaminated site can be used as feed to an anaerobic digester
or as feed to an ethanol plant. The price of natural gas would be increased by
about $2.19/million BTUs if the $42/Mg carbon dioxide charge would be added.
This value is $2.08/million kJ using metric units. Adding this value to the price
of natural gas makes methane from renewable sources much more competitive.
One approach to including the social value of carbon in decision-making
would be to have a global carbon tax of $42/Mg carbon dioxide on mined
fuels with the tax revenue used to support projects that add soil carbon to
improve agriculture and restore contaminated sites using phytoremediation
with biomass production.
9.7 Bioeconomy of Miscanthus in Europe
The modern bioenergy provided 5.1% of total final energy demand in 2018,
accounting for around half of all renewable energy in final energy consumption. Bioenergy provides around 9% of industrial heat demand and is concentrated in bio-based industries such as paper and board. Biofuels, mostly
ethanol and biodiesel, provide around 3% of transport energy, and global
biofuels production increased 5% in 2019 (REN21, 2020).
The European Union (EU) is the global leader in modern bioenergy
production. In 2011, EU reaffirmed its objective to reduce GHG emissions
by 80%–95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels (Communication from the
Commission to the European Parliament, 2011; Zappa et al., 2019). The Europe
2020 (2010) strategy seeks to address structural weaknesses in the economies
of EU individual member states, economic and social problems, and pressure
to reduce the proportion of nonrenewable (fossil) fuels and replace them with
renewable energy sources (RESs) in the overall energy mix (solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass energy) which account about 14% of global
energy production. In between 2000 and 2015 EU more than doubled the
share of bioenergy in gross final energy consumption (Tsemekidi Tzeiranaki
et al., 2020). EU 2030 strategy (2017) called for sharing of renewable energy
in gross energy consumption for at least 32% by 2030 with annual growth
Economics of Phytoremediation
general price for biomass that contains cellulose. Paper products can be made
from Miscanthus. Large quantities of biomass are used in many parts of the
world for making many types of paper.
As greater efforts are made to reduce GHG emissions, more policies to
encourage renewable sources of energy may be approved. If the combustion
of coal would have a charge of $42/Mg of carbon dioxide added to it for each
Mg = mega gram produced, this would make using Miscanthus biomass in a
coal-fired power plant much more competitive because the cost of using coal
would more than double in the USA.
Miscanthus and other biomass crops that may be produced using phytoremediation at a contaminated site can be used as feed to an anaerobic digester
or as feed to an ethanol plant. The price of natural gas would be increased by
about $2.19/million BTUs if the $42/Mg carbon dioxide charge would be added.
This value is $2.08/million kJ using metric units. Adding this value to the price
of natural gas makes methane from renewable sources much more competitive.
One approach to including the social value of carbon in decision-making
would be to have a global carbon tax of $42/Mg carbon dioxide on mined
fuels with the tax revenue used to support projects that add soil carbon to
improve agriculture and restore contaminated sites using phytoremediation
with biomass production.
9.7 Bioeconomy of Miscanthus in Europe
The modern bioenergy provided 5.1% of total final energy demand in 2018,
accounting for around half of all renewable energy in final energy consumption. Bioenergy provides around 9% of industrial heat demand and is concentrated in bio-based industries such as paper and board. Biofuels, mostly
ethanol and biodiesel, provide around 3% of transport energy, and global
biofuels production increased 5% in 2019 (REN21, 2020).
The European Union (EU) is the global leader in modern bioenergy
production. In 2011, EU reaffirmed its objective to reduce GHG emissions
by 80%–95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels (Communication from the
Commission to the European Parliament, 2011; Zappa et al., 2019). The Europe
2020 (2010) strategy seeks to address structural weaknesses in the economies
of EU individual member states, economic and social problems, and pressure
to reduce the proportion of nonrenewable (fossil) fuels and replace them with
renewable energy sources (RESs) in the overall energy mix (solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass energy) which account about 14% of global
energy production. In between 2000 and 2015 EU more than doubled the
share of bioenergy in gross final energy consumption (Tsemekidi Tzeiranaki
et al., 2020). EU 2030 strategy (2017) called for sharing of renewable energy
in gross energy consumption for at least 32% by 2030 with annual growth