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About us
The start of 2010 marked the introduction of sustainability criteria in biomass for biofuel production. In the Netherlands, these criteria have been formualted in a document called NTA8080.
Biomass Research is offering assistance to others who want to comply with NTA8080 rules for sustainability. We have developed and implemented sustainability criteria since 2006. Our analyses include the production of cane ethanol in Brazil, biogas in the Netherlands, and wheat ethanol in the Ukraine. They have been presented at scientific conferences (France, Canada, Austria) and are currently being published in peer reviewed scientific journals.
Hans Langeveld co-developed an approach to evaluate the sustainability of Dutch sugar beet based ethanol using criteria developed by the Dutch Cramer commission. He has been involved in the development of GHG balance calculation rules for the European organisation for standariation CEN by participating in TC383 Working group 2 dedicated to this issue. From the beginning, he played an important role in this working group as chair of Task Group 1 (emissions from crop cultivation).
We can help you to comply with NTA8080 rules for sustainability. Based on our year long experience in sustainability analysis, we can assist in the evaluation of the biofuel production chain on the following elements: GHG emissions (following RED, Dutch CO2-tool, or other calculation specifications), competition for land or natural resources, compliance with legislation on labour and land rights, social impact, welfare issues, etc.
Biomass Research is currently involved in projects for the European Commission, IEA Bioenergy, and the Dutch ministry of Economic affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. We have participated in a range of projects, working for the International Energy Agency, Wageningen University and Research Centre, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). We are extremely proud of the trust that has been placed in our work by such highly esteemed institutions.
Our work has lead to the production of a number of papers and reports. On top of that, we are extremely happy to announce
the launch of a book (‘The Biobased economy. Biofuels, materials and chemicals in the post-oil era’), published at Earthscan (see
http://www.earthscan.co.uk for details).
The first copy of the book was presented to Mrs. Klip (province of Drenthe), at the occasion of the COP meeting in Copenhagen (December 2009). Within a year, 800 copies have been sold worldwide. An overwhelming succes!
Dissimination of (scientific) information is one of our objectives, and we do our very best to prepare data and knowledge
for spreading to a wider public. Our latest factsheet discusses the relation between cereal prices and biofuel production.
Although biofuels generally are held responsible for a considerable rise in crop prices, evidence for this is not as clear
as one might expect. Check the factsheet to see how actions by farmers, markets and consumers interact with those of biofuel
production chains:
http://www.biomassresearch.eu.
Last - but certainly not least - we released the first version of the Sustainability Quick Scan, a product made in
collaboration with Zero-e (www.zero-e.nl). The release of the quick scan was noticed by several
websites
(e.g.
http://gave.novem.nl) and newsletters. We developed the Sustainability
Quick Scan to assess the impacts – positive and negative, planned or unintentional – of bioenergy and biofuel production chains.
Production of biofuels does not always serve goals of development or social justice, and the collecting, analysing and
presenting of its impact can be cumbersome. The quick scan presents sustainability scores for production chains along the
five dimensions of sustainability.
First results of the Sustainability Quick Scan are promising. Check them at:
http://www.biomassresearch.eu.
All this could only be realized with a collective effort. Several
individuals have contributed significantly to our work. Their help is greatly appreciated.
A special ´Thank you!´ for Foluke Quist (for analysing carbon stock changes in the Brazilian Cerrado and assisting in the application of the quick scan), for Professor Johan Sanders of Wageningen University (for constant support in the editing of the book),
for Elske van de Fliert of Zero-e (for helping to develop the Sustainability Quick Scan) and, finally, for Arjan Roos of Buro-b (for valuable text contributions to reports, factsheets and other material).
Hans Langeveld
Biomass Research has been founded by: Hans Langeveld
Personal and training
• Name: Johannes (Hans) W.A. Langeveld
• place and date of birth: Abcoude 28-06-1961
• raised on a dairy farm, visited secondary school in Amsterdam (1961-1980)
• trained at Wageningen Agricultural University (agricultural economics, tropical soil sciences/land evaluation,
tropical agronomy, extension science; 1980-1988)
• Social status: married, one child
• Hobbies: cooking, vegetable gardening, field hockey, painting
Working experience
• Author of an advice on indirect land use change to the Dutch commission on sustainabile biofuels (Corbey Commission) (2010)
• Author of a report on bioenergy land use (IEA Bioenergy Task 30) (2010)
• Editor of a book on Biobased Economy (Langeveld, Sanders and Meeusen, 2010. The Biobased Economy. Fuels,
materials and chemicals in the post-oil era. Earthscan)
• Co-editor of a special issue on cropping systems of European Journal of Agronomy (2010)
• Chair of CEN TC383 TG1 (GHG balance calculation standard, 2008-present)
• Author of a discussion paper ‘Towards a biobased economy: food and beyond ’, presented at the 2009 CGIAR
Science Forum, (16-17 June, 2009)
• Editer of an IEA brochure on biorefinery initiatives (2009)
• Oganiser of a workshop
‘Systems for reducing GHG emissions and increasing carbon storage
’ (2nd Farming Systems
Design conference held in Monterey (USA), 2009)
• Co-author of a bioenergy assessment study (WAB study) comissioned by ministry of Environment
(2007-2008)
• Oganiser of a workshop on GHG emission reduction and energy production (8th European IFSA symposium,
Clermont Ferrand (France), 2008)
• Advisor to DG Transport and Energy on biomass production potential (2007)
• Member projectteam on transitions in agriculture, Dutch ministry of Agriculture (2006-2006)
• Editor of a book on farming systems research (2006)
• Member of scientific steering committees of several international conferences (2004-2010)
• Chairing discussions and scientific/policy sessions at international conferences
• Senior researcher at Agricultural systems research unit of Plant Research International (Wageningen University
and Research Centre, 1999-2008)
• Land use analist at the Centre for World Food Studies (Vrije Univeristeit, 1991-1999)
Skills
• Extensive experience in chairing complex meetings including scientists of different backgrounds, policy makers,
private companies and farmers and extension workers
• Cropping systems and sustainable land use analysis
• LCA analysis and GHG calculations
• Crop modelling, production and yields trend analysis
• Fluent in English and French, fair knowledge of German, modest knowledge of Spanish
• Excellent presentation, writing and editing skills (scientific, policy or general public)
Recent reports and papers
• Langeveld, J.W.A. R. Kalf and H.W. Elbersen, 2010. Bioenergy production chain development in the Netherlands:
key factors for succes. Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. 4:484–493 (2010), DOI: 10.1002/bbb.240.
• Langeveld, J.W.A. and E. van de Fliert, 2010. Translating scientific knowledge on bioenergy sustainability to a
wider public: the Sustainability Quick Scan. Paper prepared for the 9th European conference of the International Farming
Systems Association (IFSA), Vienna, 4-7 July, 2010.
• Kalf, R., H. Langeveld and W. Elbersen. Limiting the NIMBY effect at the introduction of bioenergy production
chains: a case study for the Netherlands. Paper presented at the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition,
held in Lyon (France, May 5).
• Langeveld, J.W.A., J. Dixon and J.F. Jaworski, 2010. Development Perspectives Of The Biobased Economy:
A Review. Crop Science, 50, march–april 2010, S142-S151.
• Li, D., B. Brehmer, J.W.A. Langeveld and J.P.M. Sanders, Energy production of innovative sugar beet chains.
Submitted to Biomass and Bioenergy.
• Langeveld, H., J. van Esch and G. Berndes, 2009. Bioenergy and land use competition. Task 30 Technology Report.
• Hengsdijk, H., and J.W.A. Langeveld, 2009. Yield trends and yield gap analysis of major crops in the world.
Wageningen, Wettelijke Onderzoekstaken Natuur & Milieu, pp. 170.v
• De Visser, Chr., G. van de Ven, H. Langeveld, S. de Vries, L. van den Brink, 2008. Sustainability of ethanol beets.
Appliction of sustainability criteria. (In Dutch). Wageningen University and Research Centre
Recent workshops, conferences and meetings
• NTA8080 roadshow (Rotterdam, 26 January 2011)
• Praktijkdag Bio-energie (Arnhem, 1 February 2011)
• 9th European workshop of the International Farming Systems Association (IFSA; Vienna, 4-7 July 2010)
• ´More data and better interpretation, less speculation´, European Parliament (Brussels, 30 June 2010)
• ´Sustainability across the supply chain of land-based biomass´. Conference held by IEA Bioenergy Task 43
and the Long‐Term Soil Productivity Study (LTSP; Kamloops (British
Colombia, Canada), June 1-4 2010)
• ´Valuable biofuels´, workshop organised by FACT Foundation (Eindhoven (Netherlands), 27 May, 2010)
• IUCN workshop ´The great escape. Biodiversity Conservation, a Natural Ally in Sustainable Poverty Reduction´.
26-27 April (2010)
• 13th Netherlands Biotechnology Conference, 11-12 March, 2010
• Crop modelling workshop. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany), 15-16 February, 2010
• Biofuels and bioenergy. A changing climate. IEA Bioenergy meeting held in Vancouver, Canada, 23-26 August 2009
Memberships
• Working group ‘Biomass and Logistics’ (Ministry of Agriculture, NL; 2010)
• American Society for Agronomy (2010-)
• Dutch Association of Environmental Professionals VVM (2009-present)
• 1st and 2nd Farming Systems Design conference, international scientific committee (2006-2009)
• 6th-9th European IFSA conference, international scientific committee (2002-2010)
• International Farming Systems Association IFSA, European charter (2002-)
• Royal Association of Agriculural Engineers KVL (1998-present)
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