CO2 Mitigation by Biomass-firedPower Generation in Japan

Abstract

CO2 mitigation was estimated based on life-cycle CO2 analysis when woody biomass was burntfor electricity generation instead of coal. Taking the procurement system of woody biomass intoaccount, the construction of about 150 biomass-fired plants having a capacity of 5 MW each can beconsidered feasible in Japan. About 30 600 tons of CO2 a year can be mitigated by a 5 MW biomass-fired power plant; therefore, the total CO2 mitigation by 150 biomass-fired power plants was estimatedto be about 4.58 million tons of CO2 a year. The CO2 mitigation estimated in the present work isequivalent to 7.3% of the CO2 mitigation required in the Kyoto Protocol target. Accordingly, thebiomass-fired power plants proposed are considered one of the potential countermeasures to preventglobal warming.