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Sustainability
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Bioenergy and Sustainability
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Bioenergy and Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 9814

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Richard Blanchard

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Head of Energy and Power Engineering Research, Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Interests: renewable energy; climate change mitigation; energy for development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The decarbonization of the energy sector is an important mechanism to mitigate the effects of climate change. Renewable energy, including wind, solar, and bioenergy technologies, can significantly contribute. Bioenergy already contributes around 10% of the world’s primary energy. However, bioenergy has resource implications for land, soil, and water. In addition, competition for the production of food and fiber may exist. Bioenergy resources require global supply chains but create business and employment opportunities. Therefore, understanding the linkages between bioenergy and sustainable development is essential. 

The focus of this Special Issue is to examine the role of bioenergy in contributing to sustainable development and the long-term goal of sustainability. The scope is to contextualize bioenergy in the sustainability literature and to ensure sustainable development pathways can be achieved, for example, sustainable bioenergy production sustainability assessments, sustainable business models, and the circular economy. The output will be a state-of-the-art collection of papers to help inform researchers, developers, policy makers, and students on the topic. 

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to: 

  • Bioenergy and sustainable development goals
  • Bioenergy and the circular economy
  • Recent advances in bioenergy sustainability assessments
  • Impacts of climate change on bioenergy systems
  • Impacts of bioenergy systems on climate change
  • Hybrid bioenergy systems
  • Productive uses of bioenergy in businesses and institutions
  • Alternative biofuels (liquid/gas, not solid) for cooking and heating
  • Bioenergy for sustainable rural development

Original papers related to the above topics, including methodologies and toolkits, validated models, empirical research, applied developments, and the current state of emerging advanced technologies in this field, are highly encouraged. The breadth of coverage ranges from innovative technologies and systems to the socio-economic and environmental impact of the use of bioenergy. 

Dr. Richard Blanchard
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioenergy
  • sustainable development
  • climate change
  • techno-economics
  • sustainable livelihoods
  • environmental impact
  • mitigation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1988 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Business Models for Informal Charcoal Producers in Kenya
by Doris Mutta, Larwanou Mahamane, Chemuku Wekesa, Godwin Kowero and Anders Roos
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3475; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063475 - 21 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5632
Abstract
The sustainable business model (SBM) concept requires enterprises to integrate sustainability aspects in their planning and operations. Although 60% of the global working population make their living in the informal sector mostly in low-and middle income countries, the potential for SBMs has rarely [...] Read more.
The sustainable business model (SBM) concept requires enterprises to integrate sustainability aspects in their planning and operations. Although 60% of the global working population make their living in the informal sector mostly in low-and middle income countries, the potential for SBMs has rarely been analyzed for this category. This study explores the SBMs of informal charcoal-producing enterprises in coastal Kenya. It describes key business-model components: value proposition, value creation and delivery, and economic value capture. Impact and dependency on sustainability-related indicators were also studied. Data were obtained through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and workshops for charcoal producers and other relevant stakeholders. Findings demonstrated that charcoal enterprises, despite their informal status, adopt elaborate business models. The incomes positively affect several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by reducing, if not eradicating, poverty and supporting basic livelihood needs. Examples of negative impacts on some SDG include the activity’s contribution to forest degradation. Feedback impacts, where SDG status influence the informal enterprises’ opportunities were also identified. The SBM model contributes to the development of a balanced sustainability transition of the charcoal sector. We suggest further analyses of the role of informal enterprises in the bioenergy sector for sustainable development and how their SBMs could be improved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy and Sustainability)
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18 pages, 316 KiB  
Article
The Role of Anaerobic Digestion in Reducing Dairy Farm Greenhouse Gas Emissions
by Alun Scott and Richard Blanchard
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2612; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052612 - 1 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3649
Abstract
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from dairy farms are significant contributors to global warming. However, much of the published work on GHG reduction is focused on either methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O), with few, if any, considering the interactions [...] Read more.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from dairy farms are significant contributors to global warming. However, much of the published work on GHG reduction is focused on either methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O), with few, if any, considering the interactions that changes to farming systems can have on both gases. This paper takes the raw data from a year of activity on a 300-cow commercial dairy farm in Northern Ireland to more accurately quantify GHG sources by use of a simple predictive model based on IPCC methodology. Differing herd management policies are examined together with the impact of integrating anaerobic digestion (AD) into each farming system. Whilst significant success can be predicted in capturing CH4 and carbon dioxide (CO2) as biogas and preventing N2O emissions, gains made can be lost in a subsequent process, negating some or all of the advantage. The process of extracting value from the captured resource is discussed in light of current farm parameters together with indications of other potential revenue streams. However, this study has concluded that despite the significant potential for GHG reduction, there is little incentive for widespread adoption of manure-based farm-scale AD in the UK at this time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy and Sustainability)
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