Zur Bewertung der Nachhaltigkeit von Biokraftstoffen

Summary

Crop production is a conversion process of sun energy into biomass. Both the cultiva-tion area and the insolation stroking this area limit the energy output of the globe. Thus, food and energy crop production compete for insolation and area. LCA (ISO 14040) was developed for industrial products. Use of LCA in the field of organic farm-ing neglects usually input of sun energy, cultivation area and other basic inputs like precipitation, wind, the geochemical cycle, genetic information and propagation. In well to wheel analysis of biofuels the well corresponds to sun energy and the wheel to draught. A suitable tool for environmental accounting of organic bio fuel production is the emergy analysis. As a measure for sustainability of renewable fuel production, the energy surplus of energy conversion from insolation into fuel per resident and square meter is proposed.