Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for World Economics
No 1767:
An Economic Assessment of Biogas Production and Land Use under the German Renewable Energy Source Act
Wolfgang Britz Ruth Delzeit
Abstract: Abstract: The Renewable Energy Source Act (EEG) promotes
German biogas production in order to substitute fossil fuels, protect the
environment, and prevent climate change. As a consequence, green maize
production has increased significantly over the last years, causing
negative environmental effects on soil, water and biodiversity. In this
paper we quantitatively analyse the EEG-reform in 2012 by applying the
simulation tool ReSI-M (Regionalised Location Information System – Maize).
Comparing the EEG 2012 with a former version of the legislation, results
imply that the reform contributes to an expansion of biogas electricity
generation compared to former versions, and thus to substitution of fossil
fuels. Furthermore, given a restriction in the share of green maize input,
its production is reduced and the crop-mix is diversified. However, since
maize provides the highest energy output per area, total land requirement
for biogas production increases. An alternative analysis shows that an EEG
with tariffs independent from plant-types would provide the highest
subsidy-efficiency, but slightly lower land efficiency compared to the EEG
2012
Keywords: bioenergy, biogas, land use, policy analysis, simulation model; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: C61,; Q16,; Q42; (follow links to similar papers)
21 pages, April 2012
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