Contributing to sustainable energy systems in Norway: quantifying life-cycle impacts on biodiversity

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2020

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

664,323 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Electricity is vital for our everyday live. Heating our homes, cooking, lights for reading and many other applications require electricity, that we often use without thinking about its origin and its potential impacts. However, all electricity generation has potential impacts on human health and the environment, be it from the burning of fossil fuels, the building of infrastructure, the damming of rivers or the displacement by wind turbines. In addition, powerlines are needed between the point of electricity generation and the point of use and they may pose additional impacts. Collision with powerlines and electrocution, for example, may kill millions of birds every year (Loss et al., 2014, 2015). The United Nations (UN) have defined several sustainable development goals (SDGs). Maximising renewable energy production and minimizing biodiversity impacts are two of them, however there might be trade-offs between them. Our project aims to investigate the impacts of powerlines on birds and mammals in Norway. We will develop models to assess which species are most impacted and in which areas of Norway impacts are highest. We do this with a life cycle perspective, i.e. we aim to take all impacts into account that are generated throughout the entire life cycle of energy production. We start by deveoping impact assessment models for today's power system today, but will add future expansion scenarios later on. Such an approach will allow for an evaluation how to minimize possible negative impacts. This will contribute to highlighting and minimizing the trade-offs between the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and bring us one step closer to a more holistic sustainability.