Regional energy autarky: Potentials, costs and consequences for an Austrian region

Local actors at community level often thrive for energy autarky to decrease the dependence on imported energy resources. We assess the potentials and trade-offs between benefits and costs of increasing levels of energy autarky for a small rural region of around 21,000 inhabitants in Austria. We use a novel modeling approach which couples a regional energy system model with a regional land use optimization model. We have collected and processed data on the spatial distribution of energy demand and potentials of biomass, photovoltaics and solar thermal resources. The impacts of increasing biomass production on the agricultural sector are assessed with a land-use optimization model that allows deriving regional biomass supply curves. An energy system model is subsequently applied to find the least cost solution for supplying the region with energy resources. Model results indicate that fossil fuel use for heating can be replaced at low costs by increasing forestry and agricultural biomass production. However, autarky in the electricity and the heating sector would significantly increase biomass production and require a full use of the potentials of photovoltaics on roof tops. Attaining energy autarky implies high costs to consumers and a decline in the local production of food and feed.

[1]  Göran Berndes,et al.  Bioenergy expansion in the EU: Cost-effective climate change mitigation, employment creation and reduced dependency on imported fuels , 2007 .

[2]  W. Michael Griffin,et al.  Impacts of facility size and location decisions on ethanol production cost , 2011 .

[3]  Andreas König.  Cost efficient utilisation of biomass in the German energy system in the context of energy and environmental policies , 2011 .

[4]  Matthew J. Realff,et al.  Design of biomass processing network for biofuel production using an MILP model , 2011 .

[5]  E. Schmid,et al.  CropRota – A crop rotation model to support integrated land use assessments , 2011 .

[6]  Vincenzo Franzitta,et al.  Assessment of bioenergy potential in Sicily: A GIS-based support methodology , 2009 .

[7]  Lukas Kranzl,et al.  Assessing the economic efficiency of bioenergy technologies in climate mitigation and fossil fuel replacement in Austria using a techno-economic approach , 2011 .

[8]  Adrian Stämpfli,et al.  Energy autarky: A conceptual framework for sustainable regional development , 2011 .

[9]  Reinhard Madlener,et al.  Sustainable energy development in Austria until 2020: Insights from applying the integrated model “e3.at” , 2011, Energy policy.

[10]  Erwin Schmid,et al.  Sustainable Local Food Production and Consumption , 2009 .

[11]  Erwin Schmid,et al.  On the choice of farm management practices after the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2003. , 2007, Journal of environmental management.

[12]  Sylvain Leduc,et al.  Cost-effective policy instruments for greenhouse gas emission reduction and fossil fuel substitution through bioenergy production in Austria. , 2011 .

[13]  Sylvain Leduc,et al.  Location of a biomass based methanol production plant: A dynamic problem in northern Sweden , 2010 .

[14]  H. W. Elbersen,et al.  Potential, spatial distribution and economic performance of regional biomass chains: The North of the Netherlands as example , 2010 .

[15]  Benjamin C. McLellan,et al.  Resilience, Sustainability and Risk Management: A Focus on Energy , 2012 .

[16]  B. Abegg,et al.  Energy Self-sufficient Regions in the European Alps , 2011 .

[17]  Enli Wang,et al.  Biofuels agriculture: landscape‐scale trade‐offs between fuel, economics, carbon, energy, food, and fiber , 2010 .

[18]  B. Born,et al.  Avoiding the Local Trap , 2006 .

[19]  Jimmy R. Williams,et al.  Simulating soil C dynamics with EPIC: Model description and testing against long-term data , 2006 .

[20]  A. Jiricka,et al.  Energetic tourism: exploring the experience quality of renewable energies as a new sustainable tourism market. , 2010 .

[21]  Canada Warren E. Mabee and Jaconette Mirck Ontario.  A Regional Evaluation of Potential Bioenergy Production Pathways in Eastern Ontario, Canada , 2013 .

[22]  Paul J. Burgess,et al.  A framework for reviewing the trade-offs between, renewable energy, food, feed and wood production at a local level , 2012 .

[23]  E. Schmid,et al.  International Trade of Bio-Energy Products – Economic Potentials for Austria , 2013 .

[24]  Johannes Schmidt,et al.  Potential of biomass‐fired combined heat and power plants considering the spatial distribution of biomass supply and heat demand , 2010 .

[25]  E. Schmid,et al.  Climate change impacts on and adaptation measures for agriculture in Austria in 2020 and 2050: Linking bottom-up and top-down models , 2012 .