BIOMASS FOR ENERGY USES – EXPLORING PRODUCTION POTENTIAL AND THE PRODUCTION COSTS FOR AUSTRIA

The expansion of renewable energy sources is an EU strategy to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and to curb carbon dioxide emission. According to studies estimating technical potentials, significant land resources can be mobilised for the production of energy crops. We estimate the costs of a policy aiming at a stimulation of biomass and bioenergy production in Austria using a model that integrates the production of food, feed, agricultural and forest biomass as well as bioenergy products. The results show that an expansion of domestic biomass and bioenergy production is costly and it diminishes the production of food and feed.