T HE ORIGINS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM ETHICS

Geothermal heat is a key-player towards a sustainable energy supply of Europe, since it is capable of producing both electricity (mainly with ORC and steam power plants depending on the available temperature) and thermal energy for buildings. Geothermal heat can be extracted either by deep wells or by shallow (near-surface) pipes buried into the ground. The systems may be direct (extract thermal groundwater and re-injecting it into the ground at sufficient distance) or indirect (a secondary fluid is heated up by the thermal gradient present in the ground). In this latter case, the supply temperature depends on the boreholes depth and by the eventual presence of thermal activity in the considered area. The qualitative map of geother-mal activity shown in Figure 2.10 helps to have an immediate overview on the geothergeother-mal

potential in the different regions of Europe. A better resolution and detail can be found in the interactive map developed within the European project GeoDH [24]. High enthalpy thermal basins that are already commercially suitable for electricity production are limited to some restricted regions, such as Iceland, Central Italy and Turkey. When going to lower tempera-ture the economical affordability of conversion systems for power production must be checked based on performance of the available technology. However, high and medium tem-perature thermal basins have a much larger diffusion, touching almost all Member countries.

According to EGEC [25], around 25% of European citizens live in areas where geothermal district heating is technically feasible. This offers a huge untapped potential for the production of renewable thermal energy, since so far only 4.3 TWh (16 PJ) of geothermal heat is deliv-ered through district heating systems [25], corresponding to less than 0.15% of the EU28 heat demand. In 2015 there were 257 geothermal district heating systems in Europe corresponding to a total installed capacity of 4.7 GW [26]. Among those, 177 DH systems are within the EU28 countries, totaling an overall installed capacity of only 1.55 GW. Figure 2.10 shows how the geothermal district heat is produced among the European countries (including Turkey and other non-Member States). Due to the resource availability and to the technological ma-turity of geothermal DH systems, the latter have seen an increase during recent years (Fig.

2.12) and even a more significant increase is predicted for the years to come (Fig. 2.13), with France and Germany as leading countries followed by Italy and Hungary. According to the HRE scenarios, the geothermal district heating holds a potential of 430 PJ/y, with targets for 2030 and 2050 of 190 and 370 PJ/y, respectively.

Figure 2.10 - Distribution of geothermal resources and potential use in Europe [25].

Figure 2.11 - Geothermal district heating systems production in Europe [26].

Figure 2.12 - Growth of installed capacity of geothermal district heating systems in Europe between 2011 and 2015 [26].

Figure 2.13 - Predicted growth of number of geothermal district heating systems in Europe between 2015 and 2019 [26].

2.3.4 Biomass

Biomass can be used for multiples purposes: electricity and heat production, biofuels produc-tion for transport and plastic producproduc-tion in the green chemistry. The first three biomass uses are referred to as “bioenergy uses”. The biomass sources can be classified into three groups:

(a) Waste: biodegradable waste from road side verges, households and gardens, solid and wet waste from agriculture products and organic waste from industry and trade;

(b) Agriculture: energy crops (ligno-cellulosic, sugar, starch, oil, maize), dry and wet ma-nure and other agricultural primary residuals (grass, straw and stubble from cereals, sunflowers etc)

(c) Forestry: woody biomass from forests or other wooded lands.

Fig. 2.13 outlines the share of the bioenergy market segments with regard to the final energy use and regardless of the biomass source. Electricity production and heat production do not have to be considered competitive uses, since more than 60% of the electricity from biomass-fired power plants comes from cogeneration plants [27]. This involves a gross final energy consumption of 510 PJ/y of the district heating sector in 2014, i.e. almost 16% of the total.

Biomass constitutes one of the main energy sources in some countries such as Sweden, Latvia etc –see Fig. 2-, but it accounts for a rather small share of the overall energy supply to district heating systems at European level -see Fig. 2.6-. According to AEBIOM [27], the bioheat development differs significantly among the Member countries due to different markets. In

some countries -such as Italy- there has been a quick development of pellet heating in all sec-tors (residential, services and small industries). Other countries –such as Latvia- build new large-scale CHP plants for biomass, and district heating is moving from fossil fuels to bio-mass. Even big cities embrace biomass for district heating, like Paris and Copenhagen. Many countries have discovered biogenic waste as a good renewable energy source. Recycled wood and other waste products are used for energy when landfills close down. In industry we see use of biomass not only in the forest industry, which is the traditional large-scale use, but also in the food industry, laundries, asphalt production, cement plants and others.

Figure 2.14 - EU28 gross final energy consumption (ktoe) of bioenergy per market segment in 2014 [27].

There is a new interest in renewable heating and cooling from EU level. But the effort sharing targets for the sectors outside ETS for 2030 are sadly low, and the incentives are too weak.

Carbon pricing, a carbon tax on fossil heating fuels, would do wonders on all markets. Ac-cording to the Directive on the promotion of energies from renewable sources (RES Di-rective) [28] only part of the available biomass for energy use (bioenergy potential) can be used in a sustainable way. In particular, two sustainability criteria should be used when im-plementing the RES Directive at national level:

1) Prohibition of biomass from land converted from primary forest, high carbon stock ar-eas and highly bio-diverse arar-eas;

2) Minimum greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings according to a common calcula-tion methodology.

The “Atlas of EU biomass potentials” outlined two scenarios for the evolution of biomass potential to 2020 and 2030 with regard to the adoption of less (reference scenario) or more strict (sustainable scenario) sustainability criteria as constraints to the biomass use [29]. The bioenergy potential in 2030 ranges from 14.78 EJ to 17.21 EJ, while the final energy use from biomass was 4.42 EJ in 2014, of which 3.22 EJ (73%) for heat production [29]. Out of the overall bio-heat consumption, only 510 PJ was district heat (15.8%). The projection to 2020 outlines a linear growth of the bioenergy undergoing an increase in absolute terms but a de-crease from 73% to 64% of the bioenergy use due to the foreseen growth of the biofuel pro-duction share –see Fig. 2.14. This means that, if the district heating share out of the overall bio-heat segment remains unaltered at 15.8%, in 2020 biomass district heating will provide 132 PJ in the EU28.

Table 2.1 -Estimated bioenergy potential (PJ/y) in the EU27 [29].

Type Subtype

Roundwood production 2386 2345 2345 2345 2345

Additional harvestable

Figure 2.15 - EU28 gross final energy consumption (ktoe) of bio-energy: projection to 2020 [27].

Thus, the scenarios outlined in the Heat Roadmap Europe [13] seem quite optimistic, as they indicate 325 PJ by 2030 and 810 PJ by 2050. Nevertheless, these values make sense due to the assumption of a growing share of the district heating and cooling market.