8 Pages
1955 Words
Introduction :Green Engineering & Energy Efficiency (ME7725)
Assignment 1 (part-A): Biomass and Biofuel
In the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) all the global leaders made a commitment to reduce the use of carbon and carbon dioxide to tackle the climate change problem. Reducing carbon emissions will ultimately increase the use of sustainable environment-friendly approaches like biomass and biofuels. The implementation of these sustainable technologies requires different kinds of new initiatives such as the “Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)” and the “Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)”. These two initiatives were developed by two global leaders which are the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Aims
The aim of this study is mainly the analysis of two of these two incentives in the production process of Biomass and Biofuels.
Objectives
- To analyze the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) from the climate change scenario.
- To analyze the “Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)” and the “ Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)” initiative.
- To understand the impact of these two initiatives in the Biomass and Biodiesel production.
Methodology
The entire study was done using the secondary data analysis method. These data are gathered using different kinds of past works of literature and articles regarding this topic. Also, both the quantitative and qualitative data are taken in the analysis of this research.
This study is the comparative analysis of two different sustainable initiatives which are the “Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)” and the “ Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)” initiative. The collected data also have information about different kinds of valuable findings from the COP21 program (Viñuales et al. 2021). The collected data also contains a wide variety of risk factors regarding these two initiatives which can create different impacts in the production of Biomass and Biofuels in the United Kingdom. To determine the relative merits and shortcomings of the RHI and RFS programs in accomplishing their stated goals, we contrast and evaluate them (Matemilola, 2020). Through a comparison analysis, we can ascertain the potential for efficacy from the EU's point of view as well as the viability of implementing either one of the initiatives alone or in conjunction. The use of proper well-designed and structured methods are used in this specific research work.
Literature Review
The targets of the EU regarding the COP21
The European Commission has different kinds of targets based on improving the climate of Europe based on the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) conference. The main objective of the EU is to reduce the effects of the global climate change problem. It aims to improve the effects of global warming on the entire world. They have set specific targets regarding the global increase in temperature as they want to reduce the average temperature level as they want to reduce the average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. In the industrial area, they want to reduce it by 1.5 degrees Celsius. One of the most important aims of the EU is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases significantly. By the year 2023, the EU wants to reduce the emission of different kinds of greenhouse gases by 40% (Kryk and Guzowska, 2021). It will be compared to the level of greenhouse gases in the year 1990. This process of greenhouse gas reduction is done using different valuable factors such as industry, agriculture, transportation, etc.
Figure 1: The accomplishment of greenhouse targets in European countries
(Source: Kryk and Guzowska, 2021)
The EU also wants to increase the utilization of different kinds of renewable energy sources in various European countries such as the United Kingdom. One of the most important objectives is to increase the use of sustainable energy by more than 32% at least by the year 2030. This process would require different types of sustainable energy sources for example wind, water, different types of biodegradable elements, etc.
In the achievement process of these targets, the EU needs different kinds of valuable initiatives and policies for these problems.
The importance of the RHI and RHS initiative
The RHI and the RHS initiative are implemented by the United Kingdom and the United States of America to increase the shares of Biofuels and Biomass significantly. Both of these initiatives are very important in the increased production rate of Biomass and Biofuel effectively.
The importance of both of these initiatives is related to different kinds of factors for example the reduction of carbon emissions, reduction of greenhouse gases, increased use of sustainable energy sources, etc.
It was found by a past study that the use of gasoline and diesel in the entire world has increased by approximately 13.6% in the year 2017 (Burkhardt, 2019). These caused a significant increase in carbon dioxide in the entire world. For this reason, the RHS initiative was implemented to improve this condition for the betterment of the entire world. It created different opportunities by reducing the price of biofuels significantly. Also, this initiative consists of the help of “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)” in this process. This initiative has increased the taxes on diesel and gasoline by 5% which creates a reduction in the use of these energy sources effectively. The EU can access the help of this initiative to increase the use of biofuels in the United Kingdom and in other European countries.
Figure 2: Graphical representation of taxes on Diesel and Gasoline
(Source: Burkhardt, 2019)
Issues regarding these initiatives
The implementation process of both of these initiatives has created different types of positive outcomes in the completion of the targets of the EU. However, both of these initiatives have some limitations and lack of information in some cases.
The RHI initiative policy has several issues from the sustainability point of view of the Biomass. It also faced difficulties in the market and technology. It has faced difficulties in the land occurrence process for the production of biomass (Khoo et al. 2020). The most important problem of this initiative is the amount of technological resources for biomass production.
The RFS initiative also has different kinds of issues regarding the overuse of diesel and gasoline in the entire world. It contains several difficulties such as the lack of biofuel production technologies, problems regarding blend walls, etc. The use of “Cellulosic biofuels”, which are expected by the RFS, can be challenging to create in the sums expected to agree with guidelines. This has made it more challenging to achieve specific RFS objectives. The "mix wall," which happens when the expected measures of ethanol outperform the amount that can be blended into gas, has been a test for the RFS. This has placed a strain on the energy business and gas area and created consistency issues.
Results and Discussion
The analysis of these initiatives creates several opportunities in the production process of biofuel and biomass in the entire world. These new approaches have created different kinds of positive outcomes in the completion of different targets of the EU (Obergassel et al. 2022). However, it was found that different kinds of issues are associated with these initiatives that can disrupt the adaptation to biological fuels and biomass production.
The results of RHI in the production of biomass
The installation of renewable heating systems in both residential and non-residential buildings has been successfully encouraged by the RHI. The usage of biomass heating technology has increased significantly as a result of this campaign, lowering the heating sector's carbon footprint. Additionally, it has improved the economy by fostering employment creation and the expansion of the renewable heating sector (Ong et al. 2020). But the RHI has had difficulties, including fraud and abuse problems, which prompted changes to the plan to limit overuse. Higher-than-expected expenses continue to be a source of worry for cost control, placing strain on government finances. Its application in some areas may be hampered by technological constraints, and sustainability issues with biomass supply require ongoing attention.
The results of RFS in the production of biofuel
In the utilization process of ethanol and other renewable fuels contains the transportation industry has increased thanks to the RFS. By diversifying fuel sources, it has increased energy security, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulated innovation and investment in the biofuels sector.
The "blend wall" in gasoline causing compliance problems, the shortage of cellulosic biofuel production, and market forces affecting the demand for biofuels have all presented serious obstacles for the RFS (Maljean-Dubois, 2020). Different kinds of environmental worries about the effects of corn-based ethanol production on water and land usage have also been brought up. The RFS is even more complicated due to ongoing discussions over mandate levels and regulatory uncertainty.
Conclusion
The use of the RHI and RFS incentives has created a huge impact on the production of different kinds of Biofuel and Biomasses. It has been very beneficial for the EU in achieving different targets for global climate change. It also appears to be very important in the reduction process of carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases effectively. This entire study is the analysis of these initiatives which are implemented for completion of EU targets.
References
Journals
- Viñuales, J.E., Depledge, J., Reiner, D.M. and Lees, E., 2021, December. Climate policy after the Paris 2015 climate conference. In Climate Policy after the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (pp. 15-22). Routledge.
- Maljean-Dubois, S., 2020. 22nd Conference of the Parties (Marrakesh) of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: a Meeting Prior to Deadlines.
- Matemilola, S., Fadeyi, O. and Sijuade, T., 2020. Paris Agreement. Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management, 2020, p.1.
- Obergassel, W., Bauer, S., Hermwille, L., Aykut, S.C., Boran, I., Chan, S., Fraude, C., Klein, R.J., Mar, K.A., Schroeder, H. and Simeonova, K., 2022. From regime?building to implementation: Harnessing the UN climate conferences to drive climate action. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 13(6), p.e797.
- Morgan, A., Zappa, W., Harmsen, R. and Lehmann, P., 2020. Evaluating instruments stimulating sustainability transitions: promoting biomass boilers in Germany and the UK. In 2020 Energy Evaluation Europe Conference.
- Burkhardt, J., 2019. The impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard on US oil refineries. Energy Policy, 130, pp.429-437.
- Kryk, B. and Guzowska, M.K., 2021. Implementation of climate/energy targets of the Europe 2020 strategy by the EU member states. Energies, 14(9), p.2711.
- Ong, H.C., Chen, W.H., Singh, Y., Gan, Y.Y., Chen, C.Y. and Show, P.L., 2020. A state-of-the-art review on thermochemical conversion of biomass for biofuel production: A TG-FTIR approach. Energy Conversion and Management, 209, p.112634.
- Khoo, K.S., Chia, W.Y., Tang, D.Y.Y., Show, P.L., Chew, K.W. and Chen, W.H., 2020. Nanomaterials utilization in biomass for biofuel and bioenergy production. Energies, 13(4), p.892.
