Docentföreläsning Markus Millinger

Abstract: The debate around biomass use in the energy system is heavily polarised. Biomass is valuable as back-up electricity and heat and as a feedstock for carbon molecules such as fuels and chemicals, and can provide negative emissions if carbon is captured and stored permanently. While theoretical biomass potentials are high, environmental risks increase the more it is used. How should the use of limited sustainable biomass resources be prioritised, what are the alternatives, and what trade-offs are associated with them?

This is often viewed as an engineering or economics problem, but policy makers need to make decisions under uncertainty and weigh different trade-offs and risks, which can’t be objectively reconciled. All the uncertainties and unclarities across several dimensions render it a so-called wicked problem, without generalisable answers.

Models are used to generate cost-effective energy mixes, but how much can we actually say about the energy system and sustainable biomass use for the medium to long term, and what strategies could prepare us for an uncertain future with multiple objectives? I will reflect on these questions as guided by my own recent research and ideas for the future.