Bioenergy makes heavy demands on water supplies

clipped from www.biofuelreview.com The amount of water required to cultivate crops for biomass, is much greater than for other forms of energy, according to researchers from the University of Twente. In a set of results published earlier this week, the team from the university said that the generation of bioelectricity is significantly more water-efficient in the end, by a factor of two, than the production of biofuel. In their article, the researchers look at the water footprint of thirteen crops: the volume of water – rainwater and irrigation – required per gigajoule of energy production. In respect of various applications of biomass, the researchers present the impact that cultivation of the crops has on water consumption. By linking the water consumption to the location and climate data, it is, they say, possible to select the optimum production region for each crop. This makes it easier to prevent biomass cultivation from jeopardizing food production in regions where water is already in short supply