Integrated food, energy and environmental services production as an alternative for small rural properties in Brazil

Autor(es)

Agostinho, Feni ^[1] ; Ortega, Enrique ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Food Eng Sch, Ecol Engn Lab, Campinas - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ENERGY; v. 37, n. 1, p. 103-114, JAN 2012.
• Citações Web of Science: 31

Resumo

Energy from sources alternative to fossil fuels is being studied and interest in energy derived from vegetal biomass is increasing. In Brazil - mainly at Sao Paulo State -, sugarcane ethanol is being intensively produced on large-scales, giving rise to social and environmental concerns about its production. If ethanol production systems are to maintain a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects, a systemic approach needs to be considered in their assessment. Particularly, human needs other than energy must be taken into account. In this sense, the Integrated Food, Energy and Environmental Services Production (IFEES) on small-scale suggests an alternative approach. The aim of this work is to assess, in a multi-criteria way, the energetic-environmental aspects of a common IFEES found in Brazil and compare its indices against large-scale ethanol production. For this, embodied energy analysis, emergy accounting, ecological rucksack and gas emission inventory are used as tools. Results show that IFEES has better overall energetic-environmental indices than large-scale ethanol production. At the same time, IFEES produces several other by-products than just ethanol (i.e. food, forestry products and environmental services), although productivity of large-scale process is 25 times higher than for IFEES, if only ethanol is considered. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 09/51705-9 - Potencial de expansão de microdestilarias no estado de São Paulo: produção de alimentos, energia e serviços ambientais através da abordagem "emissões zero"
• Beneficiário: Feni Dalano Roosevelt Agostinho
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado