Biomass energy production in agriculture: A weighted goal programming analysis

Energyproductionfrombiomassescanbeanimportantresourcethat,whencombinedwithothergreen
energiessuchaswindpowerandsolarplants,cancontributetoreducedependencyonfossilfuels.The
aim ofthisstudyistoassesshowagriculturecouldcontributetotheproductionofbio-energy.Amulti-
periodWeightedGoalProgrammingmodel(MpWGP)hasbeenappliedtoidentifytheoptimallanduse
combinationsthatsimultaneouslymaximisefarmers’incomeandbiomassenergyproductionunder
three concurrentconstraints:water,labourandsoilavailability.Alternativescenariosareconsideredthat
take intoaccounttheeffectofclimatechangeandsocialchange.TheMpWGPmodelwastestedwithdata
from theRovigocountyarea(Italy)overa15-yeartimeperiod.
Our findingsshowthattrade-offexistsbetweenthetwooptimisationtargetsconsidered.Although
the optimisationofthefirsttargetrequirestraditionalagriculturalcrops,whicharecharacterisedbyhigh
revenueandalowproductionofbiomassenergy,thelatterwouldbeachievablewithintensivewood
production,namely,high-energyproductionandlowincome.Ourresultsalsoshowtheimportanceofthe
constraintsimposed,particularlywateravailability;waterscarcityhasanoverallnegativeeffectand
specificallyaffectsthelevelofenergyproduction.