Environmental assessment: (LCA) and spatial modelling (GIS) of energy crop implementation on local scale

Environmental analysis tools as LCA and GIS have been combined to provide an integrated methodology able to determine suitable areas for cultivating Brassica spp. (B. carinata and B. napus) and Populus spp and for proposing local and decentralised energy production and consumption scenario. The methodology is applied and verified in a Catalonia (southern Europe) case study area but it can be extrapolated to other Mediterranean regions with similar agroclimates.The results obtained show that a high impact reduction in potential global warming category can be achieved annually (annual reduction of 1,954,904 Mg of CO2 eq.) in a local scale scenario.Environmental integration such as GIS and LCA provide a methodology capable of giving enough information and results to determine an energy crop implementation strategy for reducing energy consumption and CO2 eq. emissions.

► GIS and LCA integration provide enough information to determine an energy crop implementation strategy.
► The results show that the potential energy crop production enables biomass for power plants at least 25 km.
► A decentralized power system based on biomass would be possible with 10 MW power plants.
► Local biomass production reduces the external energy dependency and CO2 eq. impact.