Fionnuala Murphy

• Biosystems Engineering
• Professor (Assistant) at University College Dublin

The biofuels penetration rate target in Ireland for 2013 is 6% by volume. In 2012 the fuel blend reached 3%, with approximately 70 million litres of biodiesel and 56 million litres of ethanol blended with diesel and gasoline respectively. For January and February 2013, the blend rate had only reached 2.7%. The target of 10% by 2020 remains which eq...

Willow Salix sp. is currently cultivated as a short rotation forestry crop in Ireland as a source of biomass to contribute to renewable energy goals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with willow (Salix sp.) cultivation, harvest, and transport using life cycle assessment (LCA). In this...

Under the Biofuels Obligation Scheme in Ireland, the biofuels penetration rate target for 2013 was set at 6% by volume from a previous 4% from 2010. In 2012 the fuel blend reached 3%, with approximately 70 million L of biodiesel and 56 million L of ethanol blended with diesel and gasoline, respectively. Up to and including April 2013, the current b...

The demand for wood for energy production in Ireland is predicted to double from 1.5 million m3 over bark (OB) in 2011 to 3 million m3 OB by 2020. There is a large potential for additional biomass recovery for energetic purposes from both thinning forest stands and by harvesting of tops and branches, and stumps. This study builds on research within...

The environmental impact of bioenergy supply systems can be determined using life cycle assessment methodologies. This study focuses on the impact of production of Miscanthus pellets and briquettes, potentially used to satisfy renewable energy requirements in Ireland. The impact categories considered are particularly important when assessing bioene...

Kelps are part of large brown macroalgae species with a fundamental role in temperate to subpolar coastal marine ecosystems and their cultivation has been expanding as part of several efforts and countries' policies. This study explores the relevance of post-harvesting logistics planning involving marine operations of emerging seaweed-based supply...

Biorefinery concepts, which aim to convert bio-based resources or waste streams into multiple value-added products, are a key focus for the developing sustainable and circular bioeconomy. To understand and compare the sustainability of different biorefinery concepts, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful methodology. However, the utilization of t...

Integrated biorefineries based on the sourcing of renewable biomass resources represent innovative solutions for rural areas if properly integrated into local contexts and ecosystems in their planning process. Unlike traditional refineries, which primarily process fossil fuels to produce a limited set of products like liquid fuels, product-based bi...

To address societal challenges and attend to the increasing demand for seaweed while avoiding the over-exploitation of wild resources, the future expansion of the Irish seaweed industry depends on upscaling macroalgal cultivation. Through an interdisciplinary research approach, this study aimed to conduct an in-depth investigation of the prospects...

As the global population increases and becomes more affluent, biomass demands for food and biomaterials will increase. Demand growth is further accelerated by the implementation of climate policies and strategies to replace fossil resources with biomass. There are, however, concerns about the size of the prospective biomass demand and the environme...

This report summarises a project that analysed options for integrating lignocellulosic crops in the agricultural landscape, to provide biomass feedstock while at the same time providing additional ecosystem services. This was done by analysing several concrete cases of relevant lignocellulosic cropping systems. Each case was evaluated on context, d...

Offshore wind power technology holds the potential for tackling major problems associated with energy and climate change as well as triggering economic growth and providing employment opportunities. Offshore wind power has the potential to play a key role for Turkey in achieving stated 2023 energy targets due to the country's favourable geographic...

A criticism of production-based reporting and accounting of greenhouse gas emissions, as implemented under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, is the risk of mitigation measures adoption in one country to reduce national emissions, leading consequentially to the displacement of the source activity to other jurisdictions, thus resulting in an increase in...

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is one of the cleanest sources for producing renewable energy; however uptake on the Irish renewable energy market to date has been low. There is a lack of support for solar PV systems in Ireland; there is currently no solar PV energy feed-in-tariff as there are for other renewable energy systems in Ireland. Despi...

The energy sector is the major contributor to GHG (greenhouse gas emissions) in Ireland. Under EU Renewable energy targets, Ireland must achieve contributions of 40%, 12% and 10% from renewables to electricity, heat and transport respectively by 2020, in addition to a 20% reduction in GHG emissions. Life cycle assessment methodology was used to car...

In Ireland in 2009, biofuels were mostly imported rather than produced indigenously. Transport is the fastest growing sector in Ireland, in terms of primary energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions. The transport sector is entirely depended on oil imports. Policy implementations and mechanisms are necessary in the transport sector if Ireland is t...

The combustion of peat for energy generation accounts for approximately 4.1% of Ireland’s overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with current levels of combustion resulting in the emission of 2.8 Mt of CO2 per annum. The aim of this research is to evaluate the life cycle environmental impacts of peat use for energy generation in Ireland, from peat...

The timber industry in Ireland is an important producer of wood products for export and indigenous use, and supplies significant volumes of sawmill co-products as biomass for energy generation. This research expands existing knowledge on the environmental impacts of wood supply chains in Ireland by widening the analysis to incorporate the wood proc...

Ireland's transport sector consumes just slightly less than one third of all energy in Ireland and is heavily dependent on oil imports, especially diesel. The European Union has set targets that are to be met by 2020, in order to guarantee a sustainable future for Europe and assure security of energy supply. There is an increase of biofuel usage in...

The primary focus of this chapter is food processing. The chapter presents motivating factors that are driving the sustainable food processing agenda. It outlines three different methodological approaches commonly used in estimating the environmental impacts associated with the production of food products based on life cycle thinking. The methods c...

The production of synthetic fuels from alternative sources has increased in recent years as a cleaner, more sustainable source of transport fuel is now required. The European Commission has outlined renewable energy targets pertaining to transport fuel which must be met by 2020. In response to these targets Ireland has committed, through the Biofue...

The production of synthetic fuels from alternative sources has increased in recent years as a cleaner, more sustainable source of transport fuel is now required. In response to European renewable energy targets, Ireland has committed, through the Biofuels Obligation Scheme of 2008, to producing 4% of transport fuels from biofuels by 2010 and 10% by...