Spatial assessment of the environmental impacts of potential wheat and switchgrass bioethanol chains in Ukraine.
Summary
Various scientific sources have identified Ukraine as one of the most promising European countries for the production of bioethanol. However, before exploiting this potential, the environmental impacts should be assessed. As the environmental impacts largely depend on local parameters, a spatially explicit assessment is essential. Therefore this report includes a GIS-based analysis, of the environmental impacts of future bioethanol production in Ukraine. The analysis has been performed for winter wheat and switchgrass based bioethanol. The environmental criteria that have been taken into account are the GHG emissions from land use changes, the GHG emissions from the bioethanol life cycle, the biodiversity, soil organic matter changes, soil erosion, water quantity and water quality. From the research it can be concluded that there are considerable spatial differences in the environmental impacts of bioethanol production in Ukraine, thereby justifying the spatial approach. Furthermore, wheat cultivation leads in all cases, except for the water quantity criterion, to a larger environmental impact than wheat. Also, the use of current arable land should be preferred over the use of pasture land. As the research includes many uncertainties, further research is recommended to improve the accuracy of the individual impacts.