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Glossary item | Last updated: 22 Mar 2024

Energy crops

Bioeconomy

Crops dedicated to production of energy. This category comprehends non-food, lignocellulosic crops, belonging to the 2nd generation feedstock. Species included are both herbaceous and woody: miscanthus, switchgrass, reed canary, giant reed, cardoon, willow, poplar and eucalyptus.

Perpiña Castillo C, Baranzelli C, Maes J, Zulian G, Lopes Barbosa A, Vandecasteele I, Mari Rivero I, Vallecillo Rodriguez S, Batista E Silva F, Jacobs C, Lavalle C. An assessment of dedicated energy crops in Europe under the EU Energy Reference Scenario 2013 Application of the LUISA modelling platform – Updated Configuration 2014. EUR 27644; doi:10.2788/6472

Source category: Scientific & Technical Literature

Crops that are unsuitable for human or animal consumption and are grown exclusively or primarily for the purpose of producing biomass for energy purposes in an agricultural rather than a forestry context.

Allen, B., Kretschmer, B., Baldock, D., Menadue, H., Nanni, S., and Tucker, G., 2014, Space for energy crops – assessing the potential contribution to Europe’s energy future. Report produced for BirdLife Europe, European Environmental Bureau and Transport & Environment. IEEP, London.

Source category: Scientific & Technical Literature