The current potential of low-carbon economy and biomass-based electricity in cuba. The case of sugarcane, energy cane and marabu (dichrostachys cinerea) as biomass sources

The emissions of greenhouse gases stand as a major threat of today. Moving towards CO2 neutral or low-carbon economies is a need to achieve sustainable development. This study assesses the potentialities to move Cuba towards a low-carbon economy by replacing the current electricity mix, dominated by...

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Autores:
Sagastume Gutierrez, Alexis
Cabello Eras, Juan Jose
Huisingh, Donald
Vandecasteele, Carlo H.A.
Hens, Luc M.A
Tipo de recurso:
Article of journal
Fecha de publicación:
2018
Institución:
Corporación Universidad de la Costa
Repositorio:
REDICUC - Repositorio CUC
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repositorio.cuc.edu.co:11323/1725
Acceso en línea:
https://hdl.handle.net/11323/1725
https://repositorio.cuc.edu.co/
Palabra clave:
Bioelectricity
Bioenergy
Biomass
Low-carbon
Neutral-carbon
Sugar Industry
Rights
openAccess
License
Atribución – No comercial – Compartir igual
Description
Summary:The emissions of greenhouse gases stand as a major threat of today. Moving towards CO2 neutral or low-carbon economies is a need to achieve sustainable development. This study assesses the potentialities to move Cuba towards a low-carbon economy by replacing the current electricity mix, dominated by fossil fuel based electricity generation, with biomass-based electricity generation. Because of their significant potential, the study focusses on the use of sugarcane, energy cane and marabu (dichrostachys cinerea) based biomass. Results show that biomass can support over 97% of the electricity generation planned by the Cuban government for 2030. Replacing fossil fuel based electricity with biomass-based electricity today potentially reduces up to 81% of the greenhouse gas emissions as compared to the emission levels of 2012. Implementing biomass-based electricity generation in Cuba can also reduce the costs of electricity generation by 1–30% (depending on the market price of fossil fuels).