LCA of a multifunctional bioenergy chain based on pellet production

When compared against heating systems based on diesel, natural gas or electricity (heat pump), the pellet system benefits from reduced impacts on global impact categories like climate change, ozone depletion and Cumulative Energy Demand. However, the bioenergy system performs worse on local impact categories such as particulate matter formation, human toxicity, photochemical ozone formation, freshwater eutrophication and land use. Normalized impact values suggest that the bioenergy system is the least favorable environmental option (2.85 E−04 µPt) as compared to heating systems based on diesel, natural gas or electricity (5.72 E−05 µPt, 5.15 E−05 µPt and 1.99 E−04 µPt respectively).