Biomass on Peat Soils? Feasibility of bioenergy production under a climate change scenario

Energy security has become a priority as the world’s population increases and its standard of living improves, thus increasing energy consumption. As the demand for energy increases, there is growing concern about the possible exhaustion of finite supplies of fossil fuels in the not-too-distant future. In addition to the problem of availability, combustion of fossil fuels also has negative environmental effects: air pollution (e.g. particulates, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide) produced through the combustion of fossil fuels, threatens human health as well as plant and animal life. Furthermore, the combustion of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thus contributing to an increase in global temperature. These considerations lead to a search for alternative, renewable sources of energy, one of which is bioenergy.