Read the latest on IIASA research and activities.

Models, Tools, and Data

IIASA models, tools, and data are developed in collaboration with partners to tackle challenges at global, regional, national, and sub-national levels.

Research Projects

Read about individual research projects and activities at IIASA.

Research Partners

Read how IIASA works with research partners across the globe to deliver world-class research.

Science into Policy

Science and policy must work together to achieve a sustainable future for humanity.

Science Diplomacy

Science can help build trust between nations and support foreign policies.

BeWhere Finland

Background

Finland is one of the world leaders in having vast experience and poses technological know-how on utilizing woody biomass for producing heat and power, pellets, bio-oil, bio-diesel, black liquor, bio-coal and other value added products. Finland considers ‘bioenergy’ as a permanent solution to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels imports and to fight against Climate Change. The northern most location, cold climate and long distance transportation demands high energy and efficient energy planning.

BeWhere Finland

BeWhere Finland is an effective geographical energy planning system that maps efficient strategy to utilize the limited natural resources in a cost efficient and environmental sustainable manner. The model provides optimal solutions to choose sustainable bioenergy technology portfolio, plant location investment decisions, and policy instruments. The model includes a detailed national level database on forest resources (saw wood, pulpwood, energywood), existing industrial supply and demand (pulpmills, sawmills, Combined Heat and Power plants, pellet industries), complete supply chain (costs and GHG emissions), detailed transport network (roadways and railways), state of the art technology (Fischer Tropsch biodiesel, Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) and energy demand (dwelling heat, transport fuel, biofuel import).

Geographic explicit data

From left to right, Forest biomass aggregated at 10km grid size, Heat demand in finland, existing woody industries.

Objective function

The optimal bioenergy plant locations with least cost options are identified by minimizing the complete costs of the supply chain with respect to feedstock supply, industrial competition, and energy demand. A typical Finnish forest based bioenergy supply chain includes energywood harvesting, collection and roadside chipping, transportation by road or rail, energy conversion at the plant, and energy delivery to the demand regions. The model also provides valuable information for a feedstock resource allocation strategy, such as what type of feedstock should be procured, how much should be procured, and from where it should be collected and transported.