Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• de Jong, Marle
• van Hal, Ollie
• Pijlman, Jeroen
• van Eekeren, Nick
• Junginger, Martin

Titel

Paludiculture as paludifuture on Dutch peatlands: An environmental and economic analysis of Typha cultivation and insulation production

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2021-10, Vol.792, p.148161-148161, Article 148161

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Paludiculture, the cultivation of crops on rewetted peatlands, is often proposed as a viable climate change mitigation option that reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), while simultaneously providing novel agricultural business options. In West Europe, experiments are ongoing in using the paludicrop cattail (Typha spp.) as feedstock for insulation panel material. Here, we use a Dutch case study to investigate the environmental potential and economic viability of shifting the use of peat soils from grassland (for dairy production) to Typha paludiculture (for cultivation and insulation panel production). Using a life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis, we compared the global warming potential (GWP), yearly revenues and calculated Net Present Value (NPV) of 1 ha Dutch peat soil used either for dairy production or for Typha paludiculture. We estimated that changing to Typha paludiculture leads to a GWP reduction of ~32% (16.4 t CO2-eq ha−1), mainly because of lower emissions from peat decomposition as a result of land-use management (−21.6 t CO2-eq ha−1). If biogenic carbon storage is excluded, the avoided impact of conventional insulation material is insufficient to compensate the impact of cultivating and processing Typha (9.7 t CO2-eq ha−1); however, this changes if biogenic carbon storage is included (following PAS2050 guidelines). Typha paludiculture is currently not competitive with dairy production, mainly due to high cultivation costs and low revenues, which are both uncertain, and will likely improve as the system develops. Its NPV is negative, mainly due to high investment costs. This can be improved by introducing carbon credits, with carbon prices for Typha paludiculture (30 years) comparable to EU-ETS prices. In conclusion, Dutch Typha paludiculture has a significant climate change mitigation potential by reducing emissions from deep drained peatlands. Nevertheless, attention is needed to increase its economic viability as this is a key aspect of the system change. [Display omitted] •Drained agricultural peat soils cause high GHG emissions (GHGe).•Rewetting peatlands for Typha insulation production can reduce GHGe significantly.•Typha insulation only achieves high GHGe reductions when including biogenic carbon.•Economically, Typha cultivation is not competitive with Dutch dairy production.•The viability is, however, accompanied by and sensitive to many uncertainties.