Talk:Biofuel assessments

to do list

Things to be done to be in line with what is said in the biodiesel assessments -article:

• brief presentation of computational model (Jouni)
• (anonymized) numerical questionnaire results + R-code to run the analyses of numerical questionnaire data + results ((Teemu)

Invited stakeholders

Environmental non-governmental organizations

• Greenpeace
• WWF Finland
• The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
• Dodo ry
• Friends of the Earth Finland

Expert organisations

• National Institute for health and welfare (THL)
• Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
• Bioteknologia.info
• Motiva Ltd
• MTT Agrifood Research Finland
• Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (RKTL)
• Ministry of the environment
• Finnish energy industries
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
• Paula Tommila (Researcher, specialist in Jatropha)

Human rights organisations

• Amnesty International Finland

Energy corporations

• Neste Oil
• St1 Biofuels Oy
• Vapo biofuels

Examples of formalized discussions

Comment received 18.11.2011 from Maija Suomela, Greenpeace Finland (Translation here, original comment in Finnish Opasnet (op_fi:Keskustelu:Jatropan käyttö bioenergian lähteenä)

Jatropha has been offered as a solution in a situation, where for instance Neste Oil has had it difficult to find sustainably and responsibly produced raw materials for wide scale biofuel production. However, Jatropha is no ”wonder plant”, which could grow on nutrient-poor grounds. Jatropha produces best harvest in a good agricultural land, just as any other oil plant. It competes for agricultural land with food production, but cannot be eaten due to its poisonous nature. Jatropha can be a part of local energy production, but it cannot solve the basic problem that has to do with biofuel production and indirect land use changes.

It is good to make use of waste oils and fats for example as resources for biofuel production. It is important to examine the whole life cycle of every potential raw material for biofuel production, so that besides considering the economical aspects also the ecological and social aspects are considered properly. However a wide scale biofuel production is not the solution for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. On the contrary, all the latest scientific research reports that the GHG emissions from the biofuel production very potentially exceed their benefits. Real solutions in decreasing emissions from the transport sector can be found in the development of more energy efficient equipment, railroad transport and other infrastructure as well as the production of electric cars.

Arguments moved to Climate impacts of Jatropha (Jatropan ilmastovaikutukset) page (op_fi:Keskustelu:Jatropan viljelyn ilmastovaikutukset)

Statement: Jatropa can be a source or sink of greenhouse gases, depending on land use changes and the need of irrigation and fertilisation.

Resolution: Resolved. Approved.

Argumentation:←# : Jatropha can be a carbon sink if it does not take area from more carbon capturing vegetation, but instead is grown in grass, savannah or in land that has been earlier in agricultural production. If the production of Jatropha increases deforestation either directly or indirectly, can the carbon balance be negative, which means that more carbon is emitted than would have saved compared to the use of fossil diesel. The more irrigation and the use of fertilisers, the more greenhouse gases are produced. --Vilma Sandström 12:14, 25 June 2012 (EEST)

Evaluation of assessments

Questionnaire

After finishing the assessment, participants were contacted again and they were asked to evaluate the performance of the two biofuel assessments. All of the invited stakeholder groups, primary users of the assessments (Neste Oil), summer trainees who worked with the assessment as well as the coordinators at THL were contacted by e-mail and asked to give numerical evaluations of certain questions of a questionnaire on a scale 1 - 5 (1 meaning bad and 5 meaning good). They were also asked to consider and argue the positive and negative aspects of the assessments and provide textual comment to accompany the numerical values. Both assessments (Jatropha and fish waste) were analysed together but the participants were told to specify if the answers differed in the two assessments. The questions were:

Impact of the participation (Q1 only for the stakeholders)

1. Do You feel that Your contribution has been included in the assessment fairly?

The performance of the assessments (Q2-Q6 for all)

2. Does the assessment content correspond to the research question accurately, truthfully and comprehensively?

3. How well does the information provided by the assessment serve Your needs (or the needs of Your organization)?

4. Has the information provided by the assessment reached You and Your organisation?

5. Did Your understanding increase about the issue along with the assessment?

6. Is the assessment result (output), and the way it is obtained and delivered for use acceptable?

Efficiency (Q7 only for the primary users, here Neste Oil)

7. How good is the assessment output in relation to the resources used?

Numerical questionnaire results

add result table

Analyses

In the two instances (users) where different numerical values were given to different assessments on the same question by one respondent, the average was calculated and rounded up to the nearest integer in order to retain the ordinality of data. The medians for all questions were tested for deviation from value 3 with Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the differences between respondent groups for each question were analyzed with an ordered logit model. In addition, the respondent averages were calculated for questions 3-6 (applicability) and questions 1-7 (effectiveness) using all existing values and omitting missing values. These averages were interpreted as continuous and normally distributed variables, and for them the differences between groups were tested by one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test. The significance level in all tests was set to p < 0.05.

add code + analysis results

The overall evaluation of the assessments and related conclusions are explained and discussed in more detail in manuscript heande:Evaluating effectiveness of open assessments on alternative biofuel sources