Estimation of Forest Residual Biomass for Bioelectricity Utilization towards Carbon Neutrality Based on Sentinel-2A Multi-Temporal Images: A Case Study of Aizu Region of Fukushima, Japan

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 16; no. 4; p. 706
• Main Authors: Qian, Tana, Ooba, Makoto, Fujii, Minoru, Matsui, Takanori, Haga, Chihiro, Namba, Akiko, Nakamura, Shogo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Air pollution; Alternative energy sources; Availability; Bioelectricity; bioenergy; Biomass; Biomass energy; Biomass energy production; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; carbon neutrality; Case studies; Coal; Coal-fired power plants; Economic growth; Emissions; Energy consumption; Energy minerals; Forest biomass; Forest management; Forests; Fossil fuels; GDP; Geospatial data; Greenhouse gases; Gross Domestic Product; Industrial plant emissions; Logging; Power; Power plants; regional revitalization; Remote sensing; Renewable energy; Renewable resources; Satellites; Vegetation; Wood; woody biomass; woody residue; Japan; Fukushima Japan
• ISSN: 2072-4292; 2072-4292
• DOI: 10.3390/rs16040706

Forest biomass is expected to remain a key part of the national energy portfolio mix, yet residual forest biomass is currently underused. This study aimed to estimate the potential availability of waste woody biomass in the Aizu region and its energy potential for local bioelectricity generation as a sustainable strategy. The results showed that the available quantity of forest residual biomass for energy production was 191,065 tons, with an average of 1.385 t/ha in 2018, of which 72% (146,976 tons) was from logging residue for commercial purposes, and 28% (44,089 tons) was from thinning operations for forest management purposes. Forests within the biomass–collection radius of a local woody power plant can provide 45,925 tons of residual biomass, supplying bioelectricity at 1.6 times the plant’s capacity, which could avoid the amount of 65,246 tons of CO2 emission per year by replacing coal-fired power generation. The results highlight the bioelectricity potential and carbon-neutral capacity of residual biomass. This encourages government initiatives or policy inclinations to sustainably boost the production of bioenergy derived from residual biomass.