An evaluation of greenhouse gas mitigation options for coal-fired power plants in the US Great Lakes States

Abstract We assessed options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in the US Great Lakes States, a region heavily dependent on coal-fired power plants. A proposed 600 MW power plant in northern Lower Michigan, USA provided context for our evaluation. Options to offset fossil CO2 emissions by 20% included biomass fuel substitution from (1) forest residuals, (2) short-rotation woody crops, or (3) switchgrass; (4) biologic sequestration in forest plantations; and (5) geologic sequestration using CO2 capture. Review of timber product output data, land cover data, and expected energy crop productivity on idle agriculture land within 120 km of the plant revealed that biomass from forestry residuals has the potential to offset 6% and from energy crops 27% of the annual fossil fuel requirement. Furthermore, annual forest harvest in the region is only 26% of growth and the surplus represents a large opportunity for forest products and bioenergy applications. We used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare mitigation options, using fossil energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions per unit electricity generation as criteria. LCA results revealed that co-firing with forestry residuals is the most attractive option and geologic sequestration is the least attractive option, based on the two criteria. Biologic sequestration is intermediate but likely infeasible because of very large land area requirements. Our study revealed that biomass feedstock potentials from land and forest resources are not limiting mitigation activities, but the most practical approach is likely a combination of options that optimize additional social, environmental and economic criteria.

[1]  Valerie A. Luzadis,et al.  Renewable Energy from Forest Resources in the United States , 2008 .

[2]  Xianzeng Niu,et al.  Carbon sequestration potential by afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the Midwestern U.S. , 2006 .

[3]  J. Houghton,et al.  Climate change 2001 : the scientific basis , 2001 .

[4]  R. Perrin,et al.  Farm-Scale Production Cost of Switchgrass for Biomass , 2008, BioEnergy Research.

[5]  Stefan Bachu,et al.  Sequestration of CO2 in geological media: criteria and approach for site selection in response to climate change , 2000 .

[6]  M. Mann,et al.  Biomass Power and Conventional Fossil Systems with and without CO2 Sequestration – Comparing the Energy Balance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economics , 2004 .

[7]  Stephen P. Slinsky,et al.  Bioenergy Crop Production in the United States: Potential Quantities, Land Use Changes, and Economic Impacts on the Agricultural Sector , 2003 .

[8]  Keith Paustian,et al.  Potential Soil C Sequestration on U.S. Agricultural Soils , 2003 .

[9]  Francis A. Roesch,et al.  Alternative definitions of growth and removals and implications for forest sustainability , 2008 .

[10]  W. Parton,et al.  Life-cycle assessment of net greenhouse-gas flux for bioenergy cropping systems. , 2007, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[11]  R. Lal,et al.  Soil and environmental implications of using crop residues as biofuel feedstock , 2006 .

[12]  William A. Bechtold,et al.  The enhanced forest inventory and analysis program - national sampling design and estimation procedures , 2005 .

[13]  John Clifton-Brown,et al.  Miscanthus : European experience with a novel energy crop , 2000 .

[14]  B. Stokes.  Harvesting small trees and forest residues , 1992 .

[15]  D. Tilman,et al.  Carbon-Negative Biofuels from Low-Input High-Diversity Grassland Biomass , 2006, Science.

[16]  R. Wimmer,et al.  Tansley Review No. 104, Calcium Physiology and Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes , 1999 .

[17]  Eric Croiset,et al.  CO2 sequestration in Ontario, Canada. Part I: storage evaluation of potential reservoirs , 2004 .

[18]  Raymond O. Miller,et al.  Growth and yield of poplar and willow hybrids in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan , 2008 .

[19]  Bryce J. Stokes,et al.  Biomass as Feedstock for A Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply , 2005 .

[20]  S. Saggar,et al.  Tillage-induced changes to soil structure and organic carbon fractions in New Zealand soils , 2001 .

[21]  T. Crow,et al.  BIOMASS AND PRODUCTION IN THREE CONTIGUOUS FORESTS IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN , 1978 .

[22]  Lawrence P. Abrahamson,et al.  Growing fuel: a sustainability assessment of willow biomass crops , 2004 .

[23]  G. Keoleian,et al.  Renewable Energy from Willow Biomass Crops: Life Cycle Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance , 2005 .

[24]  Mark Peters,et al.  Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the U.S. Agricultural Sector , 2004 .

[25]  J. Scurlock,et al.  The development and current status of perennial rhizomatous grasses as energy crops in the US and Europe , 2003 .

[26]  S B McLaughlin.  Calcium Physiology and Its Role in Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes , 1999 .

[27]  E. Siemann.  EXPERIMENTAL TESTS OF EFFECTS OF PLANT PRODUCTIVITY AND DIVERSITY ON GRASSLAND ARTHROPOD DIVERSITY , 1998 .

[28]  Carl Nelson.  Renewing Rock-Tenn: A Biomass Fuels Assessment for Rock-Tenn's St. Paul Recycled Paper Mill. , 2007 .

[29]  M. Mann,et al.  A life cycle assessment of biomass cofiring in a coal-fired power plant , 2001 .

[30]  Roland R. Roth,et al.  Spatial Heterogeneity and Bird Species Diversity , 1976 .

[31]  Ronald L. Hackett,et al.  Michigan timber industry--an assessment of timber product output and use, 1994. , 1997 .

[32]  A. Lucier,et al.  Forest carbon management in the United States: 1600-2100. , 2006, Journal of environmental quality.

[33]  Large-tract Forestland Ownership Change: Land Use, Conservation, and Prosperity in Michigan's Upper Peninsula , 2007 .