RATING-SRC

1
RATING-SRC Reducing Environmental Impacts of
Short-Rotation Coppice (SRC) Through
Evidence-Based Integrated Decision Support Tools
Dimitriou I.a, Bolte A.b, Aronsson P.a, Baum
C.c, Baum S.b, Berndes G.d, Busch G.b, Köhn J.e,
Lamersdorf N.b, Leinweber P.c, Weih M.a,
Wirsenius S.d Corresponding
author, e-mail Ioannis.Dimitriou_at_vpe.slu.se
The project
SRC as agricultural crop
For more information visit the Rating-SRC
website http//ratingsrc.slu.se

• Rating-SRC is an ERA-NET Bioenergy project
  dealing with the impact of Short-Rotation Coppice
  (SRC) of willow and poplar on the environment
• Partners from Sweden and Germany
• Duration Oct. 2008 Sep. 2011

As a perennial wood crop SRC differs from most
arable crops in physical traits and management
practices Positive environmental benefits due
to SRC have been reported but the effects on the
environment depend on existing or previous
land-use, scale of planting and management
practices applied Nevertheless, SRC is in
some cases faced with reservation concerning its
environmental impact since it is a new crop and
gaps in knowledge exist
Project partners
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
(Project coordinator) (a) Contact Dr. Ioannis
Dimitriou Email ioannis.dimitriou_at_vpe.slu.se Joh
ann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Federal
Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and
Fisheries (vTI) In co-op. with Göttingen Soil
Initiative (GBI e.V.) University of Göttingen,
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology,
Dep. of Soil Science of Temperate and Boreal
Ecosystems (PGZ) Bureau for Applied Landscape
Ecology and Scenario Analysis, Göttingen (BALSA)
(b) Contact Prof. Dr. Andreas Bolte Email
andreas.bolte_at_vti.bund.de University of Rostock
(c) Contact Prof. Dr. Peter Leinweber Email
peter.leinweber_at_uni-rostock.de Chalmers
University of Technology (d) Contact Dr. Göran
Berndes Email goran.berndes_at_chalmers.se
Beckmann Institute for Bio-production
technology lines e.V. (BIOP Institut)
(e) Contact Dr. Jörg Köhn Email
jk_at_dr-joerg-koehn.de
The idea behind

• SRC of willow and poplar is an agricultural crop
  for production of biomass for heat and/or
  electricity
• A rapid increase of agricultural land cultivated
  with SRC has been projected
• This shift from conventional arable crops to
  SRC will have implications on a range of
  environmental issues

The objectives
Rating-SRC will

• a full-scale evaluation of SRC impact in the
  micro- and macro-scale on soil, water,
  biodiversity and landscape
• to propose ways to mitigate negative and
  increase positive impacts
• to accommodate decision-makers of different
  levels with support tools to assess the
  sustainability of SRC as agricultural crop

• consider factors strengthening SRC as a
  sustainable energy generation system, as the
  recycling of byproducts in SRC fields
• develop recommendations to increase the positive
  and mitigate the negative impacts of SRC on the
  environment
• develop SRC suitability maps for certain areas
  based on the project findings

The German Ministry of Agriculture (BMELV)
through its Agency for Renewable Resources
(Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. FNR)
is funding Rating-SRC partners from Germany, and
the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) is
financing the Swedish partners of the project.