Policy Options for Deep Decarbonization and Wood Utilization in California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard

California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is one of the most important policies to develop and deploy low-carbon and carbon-negative fuels. Yet, because the LCFS is designed to deliver the lowest-cost carbon intensity (CI) reductions possible in the transportation fuel system, it may fail to deliver technologies that would be poised to offer deeper decarbonization or other ancillary benefits to California's people and environment. We contemplate administrative changes to the LCFS to further stimulate the commercialization of promising low-carbon and carbon-negative fuels. To do so, we examine promising technical pathways, their barriers to commercialization, and recent administrative actions by the CA Air Resources Board (ARB) under the LCFS to promote novel lower-carbon fuels. We propose three actions that ARB could undertake to promote commercialization within existing authorities. To commercialize low-carbon and carbon negative fuel, including those derived from forest residue feedstocks, ARB could: (1) embrace the most up-to-date science regarding lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, (2) create additional, targeted incentives for very low-carbon or carbon-negative fuels through a volumetric technology carve-out or credit multiplier, and (3) ensure that the LCFS stimulates the best-performing fuels across a variety of sustainability parameters.

The Development of a GIS-Based Framework to Locate Biomass and Municipal Solid Waste Collection Points for an Optimal Waste Conversion Facility

HighlightsAn integrated GIS-based tool was developed for optimally locating bioenergy facilities.Waste and lignocellulosic biomass potential and distribution were assessed for Alberta.A case study for Alberta’s Industrial Heartland identified facility locations for two scenarios.Ten optimal locations were identified across Alberta for bioconversion of waste and biomass feeds.Abstract. Quantifying the availability of feedstock and determining an optimal location are key to ensuring the sustainability of a waste to value-added (W2VA) facility. This study aims to identify lignocellulosic biomass (agricultural and forest residues) and municipal solid waste (MSW) potential, find geographical point-source locations for the distributed biomass, and identify optimal locations for W2VA facilities across the province of Alberta, Canada, using an integrated geographic information system (GIS) based approach. MSW potential is estimated using population and average annual waste generation per capita, while agriculture and forest residue are estimated using production data and harvesting residue factor. A GIS-based framework is developed to locate biomass collection points by latitude and longitude for distributed biomass and to estimate their associated biomass potential. An integrated framework is subsequently developed to optimally locate W2VA facilities that have minimal environmental, economic, and social impacts. An array of geographical constraints is then considered in a suitability analysis and network analysis framework. An estimate of the annual availability of feedstock using the most recent data shows MSW, agricultural residue, and forest residue potentials of 4,330,000 wet megagrams (Mg), 4,060,000 dry Mg, and 2,070,000 dry Mg, respectively, in Alberta. Optimal W2VA facility locations are identified for Alberta’s Industrial Heartland (AIH) considering waste heat from the areas as an additional energy source. Ten other locations where facilities can be operated sustainably are identified across the province. This study can be used as a framework by municipalities and communities in any jurisdiction in the world to geographically locate biomass source and collection points, along with their annual capacity, and the corresponding optimal site for a W2VA facility. Keywords: Biomass, Biorefinery, GIS, suitability analysis, Integrated methodology, Municipal solid waste, Sustainability, Waste management, Waste-to-energy.

Forest bioenergy harvesting changes carbon balance and risks biodiversity in boreal forest landscapes

Climate solutions relying on forest bioenergy may be in conflict with carbon sequestration and storage by forests as well as conservation of biodiversity. We quantified effects of forest-residue harvesting for bioenergy on both forest carbon balance and biodiversity in a boreal forest landscape. Through a modeling framework, we simulated forest development in four real watersheds with three scenarios: (i) with and (ii) without forest-residue harvesting and (iii) set aside to study the conservation potential of these landscapes in the future without management. We simulated changes in the forest carbon stocks and in the quality and quantity of deadwood resources for 100 years and combined this information with the information on species habitat associations based on expert judgements. In this study, current practices of slash and stump harvesting reduced forest carbon stocks and deadwood volumes at the landscape scale and, consequently, halved the emissions savings that can be obtained with bioenergy. In addition, logging-residue harvesting reduced 15%–21% of the combined species conservation capacity of the landscape for red-listed, saproxylic species compared with forest management without bioenergy harvesting. Furthermore, the results indicated a potential conflict between areas of high bioenergy potential and high conservation potential.