Journal
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
Volume 84, Issue -, Pages 281-288Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.056
Keywords
Social lifecycle assessment; Technology assessment; Bio-energy; Social impact assessment
Categories
Funding
- CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund
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Global climatic change is driving research and development in low emissions technologies. One such technology is the use of charcoal from biomass in steelmaking. This paper adapts social life cycle assessment methodologies to analyse the social dimensions of energy supply alternatives in steelmaking using regionalised production scenarios in Australia. Three energy supply alternatives are investigated: charcoal produced from Radiata pine plantation forestry; charcoal produced from Mallee eucalypt revegetation on agricultural land; and metallurgical coal. Impact indicators analysed include land-use, employment, workplace health & safety and a qualitative analysis of identified stakeholder issues. The research finds that biomass alternatives are significant generators of direct employment at the regional level; have concomitantly higher rates of workplace injuries and represent a significant change in land-use. Charcoal produced from Mallee biomass planted as a conservation measure on farmland, however, has the benefit of representing a shared land-use that provides an additional farm revenue stream and assists dryland salinity management. The paper finds that full substitution of coal by pine or Mallee charcoal does not provide a unique solution for optimising the social performance of the energy supply alternatives across all indicators. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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