Land use and geospatial aspects in life cycle assessment of renewable energy

Renewable energy systems such as wind, solar and biomass are significantly more land intensive than traditional fossil fuels. Moreover, their environmental implications are highly geographically heterogeneous. Consequently, they present a significant challenge to existing life cycle assessment techniques. Four specific issues are identified in this paper: determining changes in land use due to increased production of renewable energy, characterizing land use impacts, understanding geographic variability in inventory data, and modeling energy distribution effects. This paper reviews the extent of recent research activity in each of these areas as it applies to wind, solar, bioenergy or life cycle assessment in general. Some areas, such as land use needed for distribution of wind or solar energy, have received little or no research activity, despite an increased level of concern in political or policy arenas. This deficiency will be addressed in a new National Science Foundation workshop planned for September 2009 in Boston MA.