Juha Grönroos

Assessing the effects of domestic and international energy scenarios and emission reduction strategies on acidification in Finland

An integrated model system was developed and used to assess the effects of alternative energy production scenarios and reduction policies on acidification of lakes and forest soils in Finland. The analysis covered different energy scenarios and resulting emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides in Finland, as well as ammonia emissions with various control requirements. In addition, emission reduction scenarios of varied ambition levels in the bordering areas of Finland and in other parts of Europe were included in the analysis. The impacts of the different scenarios were quantified with exceedances of critical loads for acidification and with the total areas where the critical loads are exceeded. The possibilities for reducing the areas with critical load exceedances with national or bilateral measures were investigated. The differences in areas at risk, if depositions from domestic and nearby sources are estimated with a regional model and point-source databases or with a continental scale model and coarser-scale emission data, were analyzed. The reasons for the differences and the implications for national-level assessment are discussed.

Modeling Manure Quantity and Quality in Finland

Data on manure quantity and quality is a prerequisite for planning manure management and regulation. It is the basis for directing manure use into more efficient and environmentally sound actions and for fulfilling the targets of nutrient recycling in circular economy. Manure data is often scarce, old or badly documented. Some collect it by sampling and analysis, others with calculation systems / models. In Finland, both options are used. The farmers need to have their manure analyzed at least every five years. The resulting analyzed data from the farms can be combined into a statistics on manure quality. However, this dataset has major shortcomings, such as difficulty to identify different animal categories. Thus, a model called the Finnish Normative Manure System was developed. Technically the system works well and its biggest challenges are related to the vast amount of background data needed. There are still data gaps e.g. in bedding use and cleaning water additions and a need to update the excretion calculations. To assist development of such models, international harmonization of the methods would be beneficial. As such manure data is usually the basis for emission inventories and burden sharing, harmonization would also place farms and countries in a more equal position in international contracts on emission reduction. In this paper, the challenges related to manure data provision are discussed in reflection to the experiences gained during the development of the Finnish Normative Manure System.