Sustainable energy competes with landscape resources

Authors and Affiliations: 

Felix Kienast, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Thomas Egli, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Nica Huber, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Corresponding author: 
Felix Kienast
Abstract: 

In many densely populated areas different types of land use, including electricity production, compete directly for little available space. Here, the production of renewable electricity often collides with provisioning, regulating and cultural services of the landscape. In this paper we operationalize the landscape service approach and generate conflict maps between three renewable energies (wind; PV; forest biomass) and six competing landscape services. We then applied an optimisation tool (Marxan) to evaluate, assess, and quantify the trade-offs between ES provisioning and wind electricity production. Expressing different ES in comparable units and evaluating the costs to the system when these are lost versus the benefits gained from wind electricity production generated an output of possible solutions. When compared to similar studies modelling wind electricity output that avoid negative interaction with ES, the current results using the optimisation tool Marxan suggest a solution requiring 13.5% fewer turbines in order to produce the same amount of energy. Thus, using optimisation software can lead to more efficient spatial planning solutions. Our methodology can be applied toward cost-effective renewable energy development that minimises opportunity cost in terms of foregone ES provisioning.

References: 

Kienast F., Huber N., Hergert R., Bolliger J, Segura Moran L., Hersperger A., 2017: Conflicts between decentralized renewable electricity production and landscape services – A spatially-explicit quantitative assessment for Switzerland. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 67, 397-407. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.045
Egli, T., Bolliger, J., Kienast F., 2017: Evaluating ecosystem service trade-offs with wind electricity production in Switzerland. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 67: 863-875.
Huber, N., Hergert, R., Price, B., Zaech, C., Hersperger, A., Puetz, M., Kienast, F., Bolliger, J., 2017: Renewable energy resources: conflicts and opportunities in a changing landscape. Regional Environmental Change. published online DOI 10.1007/s10113-016-1098-9

Oral or poster: 
Oral presentation
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