Читать книгу Water, Climate Change, and Sustainability - Группа авторов - Страница 37

Water and energy are two necessary resources for human life. Energy production from bio‐based systems can reduce the environmental impacts and increase the energy security of the nations by reducing the reliance on fossil fuels. Water being a scarce source is important in biobased systems. Thus, bio‐based systems can contribute help achieve the global climate change mitigation goals, but this needs valuable resources such as water and energy in the process. Some of the other key concerns associated with the development of bio‐based systems include food security because of the use of food crops for energy supply, risks of increased emissions during biomass production and processing, and reduction in biodiversity due to land use change by expansion of bioenergy crops. External factors such as lack of economic competitiveness of biofuels with petroleum‐based fuels is also restricting the expansion of bio‐based systems for energy purposes. Development of bio‐based systems that advance the SDGs requires policies and measures to ensure sustainability of the systems (IRENA, 2019), including a rational use of energy and water throughout the entire cycle.