The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project: Methods, Issues and Case Studies in Developing Countries

The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project developed a methodology and software tool within the LEAP/EDB system to assess the full life-cycle environmental impacts of energy resources. By analyzing the 'chain' from extraction to end-use, the project aims to provide a more comprehensive comparison of fuel options than site-specific assessments. Case studies in Sri Lanka and Venezuela were used to validate the tool, focusing on biomass, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. In Sri Lanka, biomass was found to be environmentally superior to coal for electricity generation, while LPG was cleaner than biomass for household cooking. In Venezuela, natural gas was preferred over residual fuel oil for electricity, but its advantage over diesel for transport was mixed due to methane emissions and lower vehicle efficiency.

• In Venezuela, natural gas is the preferred fuel for electricity generation over residual fuel oil in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with global warming potential equivalents being "12% to 27% lower than residual fuel oil per KWh".
• The environmental advantage of compressed natural gas (CNG) over diesel for transportation in Venezuela is mixed; while CNG is superior for local air pollutants, its GHG impact can be "27% greater than for diesel buses" if natural gas loss rates in production and distribution are high.
• Upstream stages of fuel chains (extraction, transport, processing) contribute significantly to total impacts, representing "18% to 30% of the net energy use" and "15% to 35% of total fuel chain contributions to global warming emissions" in the examined Venezuelan cases.
• In Sri Lanka, biomass fuel chains for electricity generation provide "overwhelming resource and environmental benefits" compared to coal, producing lower emissions of all pollutants even when accounting for fertilizer and diesel use in plantations.
• For Sri Lankan households, LPG is environmentally preferable to firewood in terms of indoor air pollution and may produce lower net GHG emissions if firewood is not produced sustainably, with a "breakeven" sustainability threshold of 78%.
• The project identifies that traditional "gap theory" models for biomass often failed because they equated woodfuel consumption with deforestation and ignored spontaneous user adaptations to scarcity.
• In Sri Lanka, utilizing existing industrial biomass resources for cogeneration could significantly increase electricity supply: tea industry wood could generate "approximately 340 GWh of electricity" (10% of total generation), and sugar industry bagasse could add "approximately 111 GWh".
• The fuel chain analysis for Sri Lanka suggests that meeting the 2010 electricity forecast of 7000 GWh using conventional biomass-steam generation would require approximately 658,000 hectares of woodfuel plantations, or about "10% of the total land area".
• The project developed an expanded LEAP/EDB software tool that allows for rapid comparative evaluation of fuel choices based on full life-cycle environmental impacts, including the ability to track "environmental loadings per unit of energy (final or useful) or per unit of energy service".

APA

Lazarus, M., Heaps, C., & Hill, D. (1995). The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project: Methods, Issues and Case Studies in Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/fcaproj.pdf

Chicago

Lazarus, Michael, Charles Heaps, and David Hill. The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project: Methods, Issues and Case Studies in Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute, 1995. https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/fcaproj.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lazarus |first1=Michael |last2=Heaps |first2=Charles |last3=Hill |first3=David |title=The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project: Methods, Issues and Case Studies in Developing Countries |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 1995 |url=https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/fcaproj.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lazarus1995seiunep, author = {Lazarus, Michael and Heaps, Charles and Hill, David}, title = {{The SEI/UNEP Fuel Chain Project: Methods, Issues and Case Studies in Developing Countries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {1995}, month = may, url = {https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/fcaproj.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }