36th Discussion Forum on LCA: LCA of future biofuels

2008-10-20 / 11:42 from LCA Forum
Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to the 36th discussion forum on Life Cycle Assessment of
Future Biofuels on November 17, 2008, Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Nowadays the discussion about biofuels is dominated by food security issues and
ecological concerns. Indeed, various studies on currently used biofuels have shown that
environmental impacts over the whole production chain are often higher than for the
fossil reference. New hope is set on coming technology developments and improved
feedstocks. They promise higher efficiencies and lower environmental impacts.

The conference will provide an overview on recent LCA approaches and results of several
case studies about future bioenergy, including BtL- fuels and synthetic natural gas
(SNG), as well as emerging feedstocks like jatropha and algae. Crucial questions from an
LCA viewpoint are:

• Is the overall environmental performance of future biofuels better than that of
current biofuels?

• Which feedstocks should be preferred? What are the most promising technologies?

However, LCA deals with only one aspect of sustainability. To obtain a complete picture
of the future potential of biofuels, environmental impacts should be weighted against
impacts on the socio-economic level. At this conference a holistic approach for the
technology assessment of future biofuels will be presented. Furthermore opportunities
and threats of biofuels from the perspective of the rural poor will be discussed.

Further information can be found in the attached program and application form.

Looking forward to meet you in Dübendorf

Rainer Zah, Empa and
Niels Jungbluth, ESU-services Ltd.

36_lcaforum_program.pdf (219KBytes)


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