Application of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment to Evaluate the Future Energy Crops for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

Currently, Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) methodology is widely used to determine possible environmental impacts in the sustainable fuels and energy sector. It is a deep-rooted tool to afford data-driven investigation of environmental impact assessment. Among the energy crops, specifically, the perennial grasses and trees might contribute significantly to the mitigation of global environmental problems in energy safety and climate change, provided if high yields can be attained. The nonfood low-cost perennial energy crops like Salix, Miscanthus, switchgrass, and giant cane grass are considered commercially important due to their high-yielding capacity, can grow in marginal land type, minimum requirement of input needs, and more ground cover. These crops would address several environmental issues such as involvement in the reduction of greenhouse gases and energy either for bioenergy or biomaterials and encouraging social benefits specifically in rural areas. But its economical utilization is compromised since their cost of production is influenced by yields. The present chapter discusses the OPTIMA project which is dedicated to the farming of perennial crops such as giant reed (A. donax L.), miscanthus (Miscanthus × Giganteus), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in minimal nutritional soils in the Mediterranean region. This chapter also briefly describes the sustainability assessment of the perennial energy crop cultivation with reference to economic, environmental, and socioeconomic benefits and elucidates the validation on cultivation and utilization of perennial grasses to predict the advantages toward sustainability.