Footprint and Impacts of Renewable Energy: Pressure on Lands Under Growth
Informations
- Funding country
Norway- Acronym
- -
- URL
- -
- Start date
- 1/1/2021
- End date
- 12/31/2025
- Budget
- 3,127,029 EUR
Fundings
| Name | Role | Start | End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KLIMAFORSK - Large scale programme on Climate | Grant | - | - | 3,127,027 EUR |
Abstract
Our FIREPLUG project is addressing two societal challenges: how to manage the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as a response to the climate crisis, and how to minimize effects of land use change from renewable energy on the biodiversity crisis. Hydro, wind and solar power are important for green energy production but future planning needs a better understanding of the tradeoffs among these different options. Our project team is a collaboration among NINA, NTNU and CICERO, five environmental groups, and NVE as the government authority responsible for concessions. Our project is organized as seven work packages. First, we have developed alternative scenarios of renewable energy development. Our scenarios include different options for hydropower (new station, run-of-river projects, pumped storage), windpower (land-based, offshore), solarpower (on buildings or at sea), and energy efficiency (green construction). Second, we will calculate land use from different scenarios with new spatial tools to estimate the actual area requirements in land and freshwater habitats. Third, we will calculate impacts for carbon budgets from construction activities and effects on carbon storage and sequestration in natural systems. Fourth, we will investigate biodiversity impacts by modeling spatial impacts of renewable energy on species and habitats of conservation concern. Fifth, we will combine our model results with the tools of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess different tradeoffs over the lifespan of energy facilities. Sixth, we will develop visualizations a planning tool for Consensus-Based Siting (ConSite) to determine how alternative scenarios address technical needs while protecting biodiversity. Last, we will identify economic incentives for our best scenarios, and will work with stakeholders to develop new policy recommendations for decision-makers in Norway.