Consideration of Environmental and Socio-economic Aspects of a Territory for Sustainable Production and Consumption in a Biorefinery Context
Résumé
The question of sustainable production and consumption is increasingly being raised in our modern society. The depletion of natural resources, the deterioration of environmental quality as well as the degradation of ecosystems and human health lead to a reconsideration of public production and consumption patterns. More attention is paid nowadays to the production and consumption of biomass-based products. Biomass represents a sustainable alternative to oil products, allowing us to obtain a wide range of different commodities and to guarantee environmental, social and economic benefits. However, in order to ensure really sustainable production and consumption, it is not enough to produce goods from biomass instead of oil. It is necessary to ensure sustainable management, starting with the choice of the sustainable biorefinery location, passing through the value and supply chains, which must guarantee minimum waste and environmental emissions, and finishing with sustainable consumption of goods. This article discusses the choice of an optimal sustainable biorefinery location, while taking into account the environmental and socio-economic characteristics of a territory. Several zones of one French region were considered for this investigation. Each zone was studied in terms of its ecological (access to water resources, …) and socio-economic (unemployment rate, …) aspects. The results of our study demonstrate which aspects are the most important when choosing the optimal sustainable location, and which of the studied zones is most suitable for the biorefinery sustainable anchoring.