Applying the open-source climate, land, energy, and water systems (CLEWs) model to Canada
Published in Energy Strategy Reviews, 2022
Abstract
In this paper the Climate, Land, Energy, and Water system (CLEWs) interactions of biofuel production are addressed. We utilize an open-source modelling framework to assess direct and indirect impacts of biofuels on long-term electricity generation, land, and water use. We analyse a switchgrass biofuels pathway and find that while the land use implications are substantial, increasing by 646,190 km2 in agricultural land area, the impacts on water systems, which increases by approximately 222 billion m3 compared to the baseline, may be even more limiting for the Canadian context. While switchgrass biofuels can contribute low-carbon dispatchable electricity, the land and water use impacts suggest that any biofuels should be used for hard to decarbonize sectors prior to using them for electricity.
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Recommended citation
Kuling, K., Barnes, T., Shivakumar, A., Brinkerink, M., & Niet, T. (2022). Applying the open-source climate, land, energy, and water systems (CLEWs) model to Canada. In Energy Strategy Reviews (Vol. 44, p. 100929). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2022.100929