The impact of wind energy on plant biomass production in China.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Gao L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10724281 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The impact of wind energy on plant biomass production in China.
Gao Li L Wu Qingyang Q Qiu Jixiang J Mei Yingdan Y Yao Yiran Y Meng Lina L Liu Pengfei P
Scientific reports 20231215 1
Global wind power expansion raises concerns about its potential impact on plant biomass production (PBP). Using a high-dimensional fixed effects model, this study reveals significant PBP reduction due to wind farm construction based on 2404 wind farms, 108,361 wind turbines, and 7,904,352 PBP observations during 2000-2022 in China. Within a 1-10 km buffer, the normalized differential vegetation and enhanced vegetation indices decrease from 0.0097 to 0.0045 and 0.0075 to 0.0028, respectively. Sim ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Abstract Enabling the rational use of energy and the realization of the “dual carbon goals” across China will require systematic analysis of temporal and spatial changes in surface wind speed (SWS), determination of key factors influencing SWS, and quantification of wind energy resources. We investigated changes of SWS and their potential impact on wind energy resources using daily SWS data from meteorological observations and based on wind power density (WPD) across China during 1961–2021. The SWS changes were related to atmospheric circulation, surface friction (urbanization and vegetation changes), aerosol emissions and the replacement of observation instruments. The increase of SWS after 2015 was closely related to changes of atmospheric circulation that were reflected by changes of Asian Meridional Circulation Index, North Atlantic Oscillation, and Arctic Oscillation. Compared with the mean SWS, the extreme SWS exhibited a more obvious downward trend and earlier abrupt change. The annual mean SWS decreased by 16.80% in the last six decades, resulting in a decrease of 47.78% in wind energy potential. Regions with annual WPD more than 100 W · m−2 were mainly in western China, northeastern China, northwestern China and some coastal areas. The WPD decreased mainly in northeastern China, northern China, and some coastal areas during the last six decades; it increased mainly in western China. Regions with annual WPD more than 100 W · m−2 and robust coefficient of variation less than 0.5 are high‐quality wind energy resource areas and were found mainly in western China, northern China, northeast China, and coastal areas. Key Points The surface wind speed (SWS) showed a decreasing trend across China during 1961–2021 and abrupt change was detected in 2015 Compared with the mean SWS, the extreme SWS exhibited a more obvious downward trend and earlier abrupt change High‐quality wind‐energy areas were mainly in western China, north China and northeast China
| S-EPMC10424299 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In 2008 the U.S. Department of Energy set a target of 20% wind energy by 2030. To date, induction-based turbines form the mainstay of this effort, but turbines are noisy, perceived as unattractive, a potential hazard to bats and birds, and their height hampers deployment in residential settings. Several groups have proposed that artificial plants containing piezoelectric elements may harvest wind energy sufficient to contribute to a carbon-neutral energy economy. Here we measured energy conversion by cottonwood-inspired piezoelectric leaves, and by a "vertical flapping stalk"-the most efficient piezo-leaf previously reported. We emulated cottonwood for its unusually ordered, periodic flutter, properties conducive to piezo excitation. Integrated over 0°-90° (azimuthal) of incident airflow, cottonwood mimics outperformed the vertical flapping stalk, but they produced << daW per conceptualized tree. In contrast, a modest-sized cottonwood tree may dissipate ~ 80 W via leaf motion alone. A major limitation of piezo-transduction is charge generation, which scales with capacitance (area). We thus tested a rudimentary, cattail-inspired leaf with stacked elements wired in parallel. Power increased systematically with capacitance as expected, but extrapolation to acre-sized assemblages predicts << daW. Although our results suggest that present piezoelectric materials will not harvest mid-range power from botanic mimics of convenient size, recent developments in electrostriction and triboelectric systems may offer more fertile ground to further explore this concept.
| S-EPMC5234829 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundWind energy farms have become a popular solution to produce green energy worldwide. Their development within protected areas has increased dramatically in the past decade, and the effects on the rare, endemic and threatened plant species (i.e., protected plant species), essential for habitat conservation and management, are little known. Only a few studies directly quantify the impacts of wind energy farms on them. Our study analyzes the impact of wind energy farms on rare, endemic, and threatened plant species in steppic habitats and their recovery potential over a ten-year period on a wind energy farm within the Dealurile Agighiolului Natura 2000 site (Dobrogea Region, SE Romania).MethodsWe surveyed the rare, endemic, and threatened plant species within a radius of approximately 50 m around each of the 17 wind towers during the wind farm operational phase. We selected 34 plots to allow the investigation of two types of areas: (1) a disturbed area overlapping the technological platform, where the vegetation was removed before construction, and (2) an adjacent undisturbed area. To understand the effects of the wind energy farm on the rare, endemic, and threatened plant species diversity and the differences between the disturbed and undisturbed areas, we calculated under both conditions: (1) plant species richness; (2) sample-size-based rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers parameterized by species richness; (3) non-metric multidimensional scaling of Jaccard dissimilarity index; (4) functional diversity; (5) beta-diversity (including replacement and nestedness of species).ResultsAs a result of the disturbances caused by the wind energy farm's development, we identified a sharp contrast between the diversity of rare, endemic, and threatened plants inhabiting disturbed and undisturbed areas near the wind towers. Our research showed that less than 40% of the total inventoried rare, endemic, and threatened species colonized the disturbed sites. Species turnover within undisturbed plots was higher than disturbed plots, implying that the plant community's heterogeneity was high. However, a higher richness in rare, endemic, and threatened plant species was found in the plots around the wind towers in grasslands of primary type. Sample-size-based rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers by observed species richness indicated an accurate estimation of species richness in disturbed habitats, demonstrating that recovery after wind energy farm construction was incomplete after ten years of low-intensity plant restoration and conservation activities. Thus, we consider that operating activities must be reconfigured to allow the complete recovery of the communities with rare, endemic, and threatened plant species.
| S-EPMC8140595 | biostudies-literature
Project description:China's goal to achieve carbon (C) neutrality by 2060 requires scaling up photovoltaic (PV) and wind power from 1 to 10-15 PWh year-1 (refs. 1-5). Following the historical rates of renewable installation1, a recent high-resolution energy-system model6 and forecasts based on China's 14th Five-year Energy Development (CFED)7, however, only indicate that the capacity will reach 5-9.5 PWh year-1 by 2060. Here we show that, by individually optimizing the deployment of 3,844 new utility-scale PV and wind power plants coordinated with ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission and energy storage and accounting for power-load flexibility and learning dynamics, the capacity of PV and wind power can be increased from 9 PWh year-1 (corresponding to the CFED path) to 15 PWh year-1, accompanied by a reduction in the average abatement cost from US$97 to US$6 per tonne of carbon dioxide (tCO2). To achieve this, annualized investment in PV and wind power should ramp up from US$77 billion in 2020 (current level) to US$127 billion in the 2020s and further to US$426 billion year-1 in the 2050s. The large-scale deployment of PV and wind power increases income for residents in the poorest regions as co-benefits. Our results highlight the importance of upgrading power systems by building energy storage, expanding transmission capacity and adjusting power load at the demand side to reduce the economic cost of deploying PV and wind power to achieve carbon neutrality in China.
| S-EPMC10371865 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Aqueous glycerol was identified as a renewable reaction medium for metalla-electrocatalyzed C-H activation powered by sustainable energy sources. The renewable solvent was employed for cobalt-catalyzed C-H/N-H functionalizations under mild conditions. The cobalta-electrocatalysis manifold occurred with high levels of chemo- and positional selectivity and allowed for electrochemical C-H activations with broad substrate scope. The resource economy of this strategy was considerably substantiated by the direct use of renewable solar and wind energy.
| S-EPMC7065255 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Concern about climate change has motivated France to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel by setting targets for increased biomass-based renewable energy production. This study quantifies the carbon costs and benefits for the French forestry sector in meeting these targets. A forest growth and harvest simulator was developed for French forests using recent forest inventory data, and the wood-use chain was reconstructed from national wood product statistics. We then projected wood production, bioenergy production, and carbon balance for three realistic intensification scenarios and a business-as-usual scenario. These intensification scenarios targeted either overstocked, harvest-delayed or currently actively managed stands. RESULTS:All three intensification strategies produced 11.6-12.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent per year of wood-based energy by 2026, which corresponds to the target assigned to French wood-energy to meet the EU 2020 renewable energy target. Sustaining this level past 2026 will be challenging, let alone further increasing it. Although energy production targets can be reached, the management intensification required will degrade the near-term carbon balance of the forestry sector, compared to continuing present-day management. Even for the best-performing intensification strategy, i.e., reducing the harvest diameter of actively managed stands, the carbon benefits would only become apparent after 2040. The carbon balance of a strategy putting abandoned forests back into production would only break even by 2055; the carbon balance from increasing thinning in managed but untended stands would not break even within the studied time periods, i.e. 2015-2045 and 2046-2100. Owing to the temporal dynamics in the components of the carbon balance, i.e., the biomass stock in the forest, the carbon stock in wood products, and substitution benefits, the merit order of the examined strategies varies over time. CONCLUSIONS:No single solution was found to improve the carbon balance of the forestry sector by 2040 in a way that also met energy targets. We therefore searched for the intensification scenario that produces energy at the lowest carbon cost. Reducing rotation time of actively managed stands is slightly more efficient than targeting harvest-delayed stands, but in both cases, each unit of energy produced has a carbon cost that only turns into a benefit between 2060 and 2080.
| S-EPMC6292836 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent national strategic plans in China have set renewable energy targets for rural household energy programs, including those that advance the production of densified biomass fuels (e.g. pellets, briquettes) for use in household cooking and heating stoves. There is presently very little information on potential barriers to the successful development of densified biomass for household cooking and heating in China, but such knowledge may be informative in settings that aim to replace unprocessed coal and other polluting fuels with renewable, cleaner-burning energy sources. We designed a case study to coordinate data-gathering efforts at rural field sites in southwestern Sichuan province and northeastern Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, where production of densified biomass fuels is under development for household end-users. We conducted interviews with factory personnel, local administrative leaders, and sector experts involved in the production and distribution of densified fuel, including pellets and briquettes, for household use. Results from our qualitative textual data analysis yielded several recommendations for improving development of densified biomass fuels for household end-use. These included reducing heterogeneity of feedstocks, increasing financial support for operational costs (e.g. collection, transport, and storage of raw materials; storage and distribution of final products), improving household perceptions of and subsequent demand for densified biomass fuels, and increasing enforcement of national and provincial policies banning the use of coal and open-field biomass burning. Collection and storage of raw materials and the final densified fuel product were consistently noted as critical challenges to scaling up production at all three sites. Finally, the perspectives of factory managers and local village administrators that we present also indicated that production of densified biomass fuels would most likely be more successful and reproducible in places where national-level policies are viewed as obligatory.
| S-EPMC7453936 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The eradication of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) is mandatory worldwide, but the resulting biomass is still considered waste. The energy use of biomasses obtained from IAPS eradication may represent ecological and economic benefits, creating synergies with restoration projects. We evaluated whether the growth forms and functional types identified using the functional space of 63 IAPS corresponded to a possible bioenergy use through multivariate analysis techniques. We extracted leaf and nutrient traits and Grime's CSR plant strategies from an existing database. We calculated the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) and gross heating value (GHV) as indicators of biochemical or thermal processes, respectively. For 10 species, we measured the above-ground biomass C:N and GHV (including leaves, stems and branches) and correlated them with those of leaves and with plant adaptive strategies. We identified four groups of IAPS indicative of the main trade-offs between plant economics and size variation, which respectively correlated with C:N and GHV. Herbaceous IAPS were better suited to biochemical processes, and woody IAPS to thermal ones. Overall, Grime's CSR strategies were the best tool to define the IAPS bioenergy potential. In the long term, competitive and ruderal IAPSs can represent a reusable feedstock until their complete eradication.
| S-EPMC10535227 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The ability to enhance photosynthetic capacity remains a recognized bottleneck to improving plant productivity. Phototropin blue light receptors (phot1 and phot2) optimize photosynthetic efficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana by coordinating multiple light-capturing processes. In this study, we explore the potential of using protein engineering to improve photoreceptor performance and thereby plant growth. We demonstrate that targeted mutagenesis can decrease or increase the photocycle lifetime of Arabidopsis phototropins in vitro and show that these variants can be used to reduce or extend the duration of photoreceptor activation in planta Our findings show that slowing the phototropin photocycle enhanced several light-capturing responses, while accelerating it reduced phototropin's sensitivity for chloroplast accumulation movement. Moreover, plants engineered to have a slow-photocycling variant of phot1 or phot2 displayed increased biomass production under low-light conditions as a consequence of their improved sensitivity. Together, these findings demonstrate the feasibility of engineering photoreceptors to manipulate plant growth and offer additional opportunities to enhance photosynthetic competence, particularly under suboptimal light regimes.
| S-EPMC6589663 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a critical environmental problem, prompting frequent investigations into its consequences for various ecological systems. Few studies, however, have explored the effect of climate change on ecological stability and the underlying mechanisms. We conduct a field experiment to assess the influence of warming and altered precipitation on the temporal stability of plant community biomass in an alpine grassland located on the Tibetan Plateau. We find that whereas precipitation alteration does not influence biomass temporal stability, warming lowers stability through reducing the degree of species asynchrony. Importantly, biomass temporal stability is not influenced by plant species diversity, but is largely determined by the temporal stability of dominant species and asynchronous population dynamics among the coexisting species. Our findings suggest that ongoing and future climate change may alter stability properties of ecological communities, potentially hindering their ability to provide ecosystem services for humanity.
| S-EPMC5436222 | biostudies-literature