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Copyright of Problems of Sustainable Development / Problemy Ekorozwoju is the property of Faculty of Environmental Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The pressure to shift increasingly to renewable energy sources is escalating. The Johannesburg World Summit of Sustainable Development of 2002 defined in its Plan of Implementation that the global share of renewable energy sources should be increased substantially. Today, renewables account for 13.1% of the world's primary energy production. Eighty per cent of all renewable energy comes from biomass and 16% from hydropower. These two sources will thus be set under particular growth pressure in future years. This paper assesses the water needs of current and future bioenergy production and concludes that it is one of the major water consumers of this planet, although much neglected in global water assessments. The pressure to increase the share of bioenergy in the global account puts a considerable strain on water resources in all continents, but the challenges will be most pronounced in Asia and Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper advances our understanding of complex interdependence among countries. Existing research has found that total factor productivity (TFP), the residual from the economic growth function, is hindered in the absence of a country's strong political and legal institutions or if a country does not already have a sufficiently high level of TFP. We also know that regional efforts to eliminate pollution are complex. Bridging these two areas while focusing on a high polluting yet high innovating region, the following research questions are posed: Are Northeast Asian countries key collaborators in pursuit of green R&D? Are Northeast Asian countries collaborating extensively with each other? What are the implications for other regions 'attempts to establish these kinds of relations? To answer the above questions, biofuels-related technology as defined in the International Patent Classification's "green inventory" of environmentally sound technologies is examined. Patent data is drawn from the USPTO and inventors' country origin as the unit of analysis. For the 1990-2013 period, the Northeast Asian countries are in the core of a small set of collaborating countries. There is evidence that their centrality has increased in recent years. Most importantly, East Asia is becoming a singular research hub in terms of biofuels-related R&D, offering a counter in the foreseeable future to the dominance of the American and European research network hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioenergy from energy plants is an alternative fuel that is expected to play an increasing role in fulfilling future world energy demands. Because cultivated land resources are fairly limited, bioenergy development may rely on the exploitation of marginal land. This study focused on the assessment of marginal land resources and biofuel potential in Asia. A multiple factor analysis method was used to identify marginal land for bioenergy development in Asia using multiple datasets including remote sensing-derived land cover, meteorological data, soil data, and characteristics of energy plants and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. A combined planting zonation strategy was proposed, which targeted three species of energy plants, including Pistacia chinensis (P. chinensis), Jatropha curcas L. (JCL), and Cassava. The marginal land with potential for planting these types of energy plants was identified for each 1 km² pixel across Asia. The results indicated that the areas with marginal land suitable for Cassava, P. chinensis, and JCL were established to be 1.12 million, 2.41 million, and 0.237 million km², respectively. Shrub land, sparse forest, and grassland are the major classifications of exploitable land. The spatial distribution of the analysis and suggestions for regional planning of bioenergy are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This special issue has presented some of the specific findings of the RE-Impact Project which was commissioned and funded by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office from 2007 until its conclusion in 2010. The project aimed to provide impact assessment frameworks and influence relevant policies through direct involvement in bioenergy projects and policy analysis in South Africa, Uganda, India and China. The papers summarised here have covered issues related to Jatropha curcas and forest-based bioenergy in these countries. Taking an overall look at the project findings we can identify a number of general conclusions relevant for the future of bioenergy and rural development in Africa and Asia. First, only local and context-specific sustainability assessment can identify the risk and responsibilities of the different groups and the exact impact on the environment. Second, many initiatives both in biofuels and forest-based bioenergy are marred by a lack of understanding of the life-cycle financial analysis. Third, careful consideration of local physical and social conditions and the economics of the production chain can identify real opportunities for rural development using bioenergy. The current global impasse in bioenergy policies could actually be advantageous to the development of bioenergy in developing countries. Without the pressure from America and Europe to develop bioenergy systems for climate change mitigation, countries in Africa and Asia may have the breathing room to shape bioenergy systems for their own internal energy supply in an orderly fashion. However, in order to avoid environmental and social impacts it will be necessary to articulate together elements of a number of measures including market-based certification, national policy formulation, national legislation, impact assessments, sustainability planning, land use planning, research, monitoring and evaluation taking into account country and project specific sustainability criteria. Unfortunately, many of the countries in Africa and Asia where bioenergy can play an important role still lack institutional structures able to articulate this sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The recent commodity price boom resulted from rising demand in the face of a long period of low supply growth and market distortions. Structural factors are expected to return international commodity prices to relatively high levels as the global economy recovers. The Asian and Pacific economies and the region's poor will be among the most exposed to a rebound in prices. The recent response to high commodity prices can be improved upon. At the global level, the priority for Asian and Pacific governments is to seek a commitment to lessening distortions favouring bio-fuels. At the regional level, there is a need to address the use of trade restrictions on food commodities in Asia, notably rice. At a national level, the long-term neglect of the rural economy warrants correction; and efforts to expand and make social safety nets more ‘market friendly’ are called for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, conventional commercial energy sources — coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower - account for 85 % to 90 % of global primary energy consumption; fossil fuels account for approximately 90 % of the conventional commercial energy consumption. Global primary commercial energy consumption has been growing slowly. The trend of growth in global energy consumption is expected to continue in the future - primarily because of the growth in world population and the economic growth in the developing countries. It is likely that the current pattern of energy consumption cannot be sustained in the future because of two major constraints. One of these is the environmental impact of using fossil fuels, particularly climate change, and the other is the depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Since the biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is the combustion of fossil fuels, one of the most effective approaches to the mitigation of GHG emission would be reducing consumption of these fuels through their substitution by renewable energy. The same approach is also vital for reducing the rate of depletion of fossil fuels. Among the different renewable energy sources, biomass is one of the most promising options for improving and augmenting energy supply over the next three to five decades. One activity of a research project on biomass energy carried out within the framework of a regional research programme funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the author was to analyse barriers to biomass energy systems and prevailing policies regarding these systems in six selected Asian countries: India, Malaysia, the People''s Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. This paper presents a synthesis of the country studies, which are presented separately in the current issue of this journal, complemented by information available in the open literature and related experience/developments in other Asian countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigates the relationship among CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption, economic growth and urbanization for a panel of 13 Asian developing countries. The panel cointegration tests suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship among CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption, economic growth and urbanization. The findings from the FMOLS estimation indicate that overall biomass energy consumption cannot reduce CO2 emissions. The results of panel causality tests show that there is a short-run unidirectional causality running from GDP to biomass energy consumption and a short-run one-way causality running from GDP and urbanization to CO2 emissions, respectively. As for the long-run relationship, the findings indicate that there is unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions, biomass energy consumption and urbanization to GDP, respectively, implying that real GDP could play a key role in the adjustment process as the system departs from long-run equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising trend in environmental pollution in current years has elevated the demand for clean energy to reduce environmental stress, and the newly developed biomass energy source is contributing well in this regard. This paper quantifies, if biomass energy consumption is performing as the main driver for economic development and clean energy source to decrease the pollution levels. Associations among carbon emission, economic development, and biomass energy have been estimated by using the Common correlated effects mean group, and Panel vector autoregressive techniques for 38 countries of Asia from 1990 to 2017. Granger causality and Impulse-response functions are also measured. A closer look at the results shows that 1% increase in biomass consumption will increase CO 2 emission by 1.698%. The study also found support for the presence of an N-shaped relationship between per capita income and emission and found trade openness and urbanization as the contributors to environmental pollution. Outcomes provide empirical evidence that there is bidirectional causality between real economic growth to inflation and financial development to inflation in the first model. The second model also showed bidirectional causality between real economic growth to financial development and inflation, and inflation to trade openness. The findings show that biomass energy consumption is acting as the key driver for economic development and performing as a non-clean energy source in decreasing pollution. • Study examines association among emission, economic development and biomass energy. • Nations are solicitous for economic development but inattentive toward environment. • Study does not find biomass energy consumption as an environment-friendly indicator. • There is a positive association between renewable energy consumption and emission. • Economic development cannot be a guarantee to achieve a clean environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Asia, as elsewhere in the world, countries rushed to promote biofuels during the dramatic oil price increases of 2007–2008 as way to enhance energy security, without waiting for the settlement of controversial debates about the environmental effects of biofuels, especially their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, biodiversity, and whether biofuels cause a conflict between food and fuel. This paper does not settle this debate, but instead argues that there are straightforward, practical and feasible measures that can be implemented immediately in order to reduce the pressure of biofuels on the environment and food supply, and more generally increase food production. The key is to focus on increasing resource use efficiency in agriculture, especially different forms of energy use. Resource use efficiency in agriculture is low in many parts of Asia. Concrete measures that could be taken include reductions in market-distorting input subsidies and the introduction of resource-conserving technologies. These could be supplemented with greater use of non-fossil fuels in agricultural production, use of agricultural wastes in energy production, inclusion of input use levels in biofuel certification systems, and greater investment in agricultural research, extension systems, and infrastructure development. Biofuel fever has waned since the onset of the global financial crisis in late 2008, but it is likely to return when economic conditions eventually improve, and possible moves to strengthen the European Union biofuel blending requirements could further accelerate it. Much of the debate on biofuel-related impacts in the region has focused on deforestation, with little attention on agricultural input use, which could also have serious consequences for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In sum, this paper argues that governments can still improve the environmental performance of biofuels while reducing potential conflicts with food security by implementing the straightforward measures suggested here. Though these may appear to be basic textbook suggestions, many governments are still not following them even though the spread of biofuels increases their importance and urgency. The message is that the governments in the region should get back to the basics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Popularly represented as the phenomenon of "land grab," changes in the acquisition, exploitation and significance of land across the world encapsulate myriad needs, motivations, and strategic ambitions. What is becoming clear is that these diverse burgeoning twenty-first-century phenomena in the name of land increasingly define and structure many of the decisions made by states and international institutions today. Despite being one of the most pressing regional and international problems of the current era, however, the issue of land grab is not on the agenda of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Member states of this association have acknowledged the transboundary effects of many contemporary phenomena and work together to alleviate security concerns and enhance collective economic opportunities, and yet they face both institutional and cognitive barriers to any attempts to address collectively the problems related to land grabbing. This article aims to examine the contemporary political space navigated and contested within ASEAN and to define the problems inherent in finding a collective action solution to this complex dynamic set of issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, both Asia and Europe have devoted considerable effort to expanding the production of first-generation biofuels to fuel cars, taxis, buses, trucks, motorcycles, etc. On the one hand, with 'peak oil' potentially looming in the future, and on the other, with an insatiable need for petroleum and diesel, the prospect of large-scale use of biofuels enjoyed tremendous public appeal as they seemed to provide a long-term alternative and clean fuel source in Asia and Europe. However, globally today, biofuels constitute only 3 % of the total transport fuel mix. Production is still steadily increasing in some countries, but their economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability have come into question in others with the result that production has slowed down considerably or even halted. The outlook for second- and third-generation biofuels is promising. However, they also cannot yet supplement, far less substitute, for petroleum and diesel in a commercially viable way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the social and environmental costs and benefits of biofuels in Asia. The major factors that will determine the impacts of biofuels are: (1) their contribution to land-use change, (2) the feedstocks used, and (3) issues of technology and scale. Biofuels offer economic benefits, and in the right circumstances can reduce emissions and make a small contribution to energy security. Feedstocks that involve the conversion of agricultural land will affect food security and cause indirect land-use change, while those that replace forests, wetlands or natural grasslands will increase emissions and damage biodiversity. Biofuels from cellulose, algae or waste will avoid some of these problems, but come with their own set of uncertainties and risks. In order to ensure net societal benefits of biofuel production, governments, researchers, and companies will need to work together to carry out comprehensive assessments, map suitable and unsuitable areas, and define and apply standards relevant to the different circumstances of each country. The greatest benefits may come from feedstocks produced on a modest scale as co-products of smart technologies developed for phytoremediation, waste disposal and emissions reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Asia’s largest biofuels producers are currently Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, China and India. This paper first examines the current status of biofuels in these countries, including the national development targets, strategies, incentives and policies. It then identifies the fundamental driving forces behind the development and promotion of these industries and considers their economic, social and environmental impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the legal implications of feedstock supply and project delivery, considered critical issues of bioenergy project development in Asia. It offers information on the terms of feedstock contracts which include price adjustments formulas, supply commitments, and enforceability of take-or-pay provisions. Furthermore, it discusses the project delivery structure, delivery and operation of project facilities, and the operate and maintain (O&M) contracts.

Climate change and the potential depletion of fossil fuels have increased international demand for alternative and renewable energy sources. In terms of the energy sector, for example, most of the South-East Asian countries (SACs) have a large number of biomass sources due to their vast forest resources and agriculture-based economies. Thus, the critical review was aimed at highlighting the overview of biomass energy in South-East Asia as a dynamically developing region, in order to obtain economic and environmental benefits from the existing sources of biomass in the world. The current review analyzed the sources of biomass, as well as their energy potential, use, and management, based on reports from different countries, published studies, and scientific articles. In SAC, the main sources of biomass were found to be coconut residues, oil palm residues, sugar cane residues, rice straw, rice husks, wood waste, and firewood. The combined annual biomass potentials in the forestry and agricultural sectors in South-East Asia were approximately over 500 million tons per year and more than 8 gigajoule of total energy potentials. The study identified the challenges and barriers to using biomass in these countries to achieve sustainable use of biomass sources and recommended sustainable approaches to using biomass energy by comparing traditional uses of biomass. Smart grid technologies have ways for solutions for better electric power production and efficient ways for distribution and transmission of electricity. Smart grids require less space and can be more easily installed when compared to traditional grids because of their versatilities. Upcoming challenges include technology optimization for the following uses of biomass energy: direct combustion of woody biomass; pyrolysis and gasification of biomass; anaerobic digestion of organic waste to produce biogas; landfill gas production direct incineration of organic waste. The barriers in this technology are emissions of carbon and nitrogen oxides, unpleasant odors, as well as the uncontrolled harvesting of biomass, which can harm nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]