Skyrocketing oil prices can provide an extra good reason for hunting for alternative sources of energy. The use of biomass from agriculture can be quintupled from 24 PJ (petajoules) to 115 PJ, according to a report prepared by scientists from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus.

The scientists have taken a closer look at eight different bioenergy technologies and examined their advantages, disadvantages and raw material requirements. The report also discusses how agricultural and bioenergy production can best be combined to achieve environmental spin-offs and repression of greenhouses gasses.

The report also includes a scenario for how much bioenergy Danish agriculture can supply. The calculations are based on several databases for land use, animal populations, etc. and are calculated using GIS so that the bioenergy potential in a given area in Denmark can be estimated.

- It will also be possible in the new scenarios to change the conditions such as crop choice, the scientists say in the report.

The scientists have studied how great the potential is for production of biomass in Central Jutland Region and for the country as a whole.

An analysis shows that the Central Jutland Region uses approximately 7 PJ bioenergy from agriculture while the country as a whole uses 24 PJ. According to the scientists this can be increased to 34 PJ and 115 PJ, respectively.

- Agriculture in the Central Jutland Region alone can supply more biomass for energy than all of Danish agriculture supplies today, the scientists point out.

The report is in Danish.

For more information please contact: Senior scientist Uffe Jørgensen, Department of Agroecology and Environment, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, telephone: +45 8999 1762, mail: Uffe.jorgensen@agrsci.dk

Text: Søren Tobberup Hansen