Land Impacts & Biodiversity
What are the Issues?
The environmental impacts on land from energy are most evident upstream and midstream in the supply chain. Land impacts may occur from the production of energy from both renewable and fossil fuel sources. Energy production of the scale necessary to meet the demand from communities and cities require large centralized facilities which in turn require large long-term land uses. Further upstream, raw materials for energy production – coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear for example – require extraction from far beneath the surface and construction of oil fields, surface mines for coal, and the agricultural feedstock for biofuels may disrupt habitats or concentrate lasting toxic byproducts in the soil. For these reasons, energy companies are increasingly utilizing environmental impact assessments that help to identify impacts and support communication with affected communities.
Upstream and Midstream Land Impacts
Pipelines used to transport oil and gas above ground may have an impact as they cross sensitive habitats. One of the most significant environmental impacts of extraction is the construction of access roads. Roads can disrupt forest areas, disrupt habitats, interfere with migration paths, and open up sensitive ecosystems to potentially damaging human activities. Environmental assessments, negotiations of "right of ways" for pipelines, and advances in drilling technology are among many approaches that help to minimize adverse land impacts.
Land use issues are also arising from the increased production of crops for biofuels. The land use practices required to increase the scale of biofuels have the potential to amplify adverse impacts on the environment through displacement and extensification. Displacement is when an economic activity – such as cattle ranching - shifts or relocates to a new location. In South America, some former pasturelands have been switched to energy crop production, displacing cattle farmers deeper into forested lands. Extensification is the process of introducing crop production on land that was previously unused or used for less intensive purposes. In terms of biofuels production, extensification has often involved expanding into "marginal" lands such as previously deforested rainforest. The scale of production needed to yield the projected crop mass for biofuels demand may encourage industrial methods of monoculture.
Together, all of these land use changes may result in loss of biodiversity, climate impacts, and social problems such as increased food costs and reduced food security. Ongoing research as well as collaboration between the agriculture and energy industries is needed to identify solutions to the land use challenges presented by increased biofuel crop production.
With respect to the land impacts from biofuels, second generation production from a more diversified set of cellulosic feedstocks may address some of the land use issues associated with biofuels. Expanding the pool of potential feedstocks, while not using food-based products for fuel, could help to reduce the problems associated with monoculture and to reduce potential pressures on food production. Numerous standards are being developed at the national and international levels, with stakeholder groups formed in the oilseed and sugarcane industries. These initiatives tend to be aimed at improving environmental and social standards of producers within the industry, often through creating voluntary codes of good practice.
Downstream and Power Generation Land Impacts
Accidents during refining such as spills or leaks of residual products that occur on or off site during the transport process can lead to soil contamination. In addition to continuing improvements in efficiency and technology, natural bacteria can be used to clean up petroleum spills and leaks.
All large facilities can have adverse impacts on land and wildlife if not carefully monitored and assessed by companies, regulators, and community leaders. The potential impacts of different types of power generation plants are described below:
- Natural Gas: The construction of natural gas power plants can alter natural habitat for animals and plants. Possible land resource impacts include erosion, loss of soil productivity, and landslides.
- Coal: Soil at coal-fired power plant sites can become contaminated with various pollutants and take a long time to recover, even after the power plant closes down. Coal mining and processing also have environmental impacts on land. Surface mining disturbs larger areas than underground mining.
- Nuclear Energy: The construction of nuclear power plants can impact natural habitat for animals and plants or contaminate local land with toxic by-products. For example, the storage of radioactive waste may mean future re-use of these contaminated lands is not possible.
- Hydroelectricity: The construction of hydropower plants can alter sizable portions of land when dams are constructed and lakes are created, flooding land that may have once served as wildlife habitat, farmland, and scenic retreats. Hydroelectric dams can cause erosion along the riverbed upstream and downstream, which can further disturb wildlife ecosystems and fish populations.
Most generating facilities also produce solid waste by-products that are typically put into landfills, another way in which a generating facility impacts land as it extends its environmental footprint beyond the boundaries of the power plant site.
What are the Solutions?
Energy producers and generators are working throughout their respective value chains to mitigate operational impacts on land and related ecosystems. Companies are increasingly using environmental and social impact assessments and engaging with communities to ensure that energy supplies are produced and used in a manner that respects the environment and local communities.
Renewable solar and wind facilities offer many advantages as they can be dismantled and removed from sites during decommissioning. Having used no stored fuel, they leave no fuel-related pollution behind. However, even these facilities have temporary land and ecosystem impacts including noise, construction related impacts, after-life or disposal constraints, and wildlife habitat disruptions. In addition, electricity generated from these facilities still needs to be transmitted to cities and towns via transmission lines that have land impacts.
Geothermal technologies that use the earth's heat to generate electricity may also leave few permanent on-site or off-site impacts. If a power plant developer harnesses the heat properly and ensures no contamination of surrounding water supplies, these resources can be decommissioned without leaving behind major on-site land impacts. Geothermal facilities also require no national transportation network for fuel delivery, but can have land impacts due to the modes of transmission required to deliver the electricity.
Renewables and advanced technologies have the potential to alter the energy portfolio over the long term. They can create new raw materials for fuel, new sources for power and new benefits for the environment. Although they may not be commercially available for decades, there is real and challenging work to be done right now on technology, public acceptance and economic viability in order to enable a transition to these platforms.