Alternative transportation fuel standards: Welfare effects and climate benefits

Chen, Xiaoguang; Huang, Haixiao; Khanna, Madhu; Önal, Hayri

doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2013.09.006

Cited by 84 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Our model considered various cellulosic biomass, including crop residues (corn stover and wheat straw) and two dedicated energy crops (miscanthus and switchgrass). In the absence of observed yield data for energy crops for most counties in Illinois, we chose to use biomass yields simulated by DAYCENT and estimated the county-specific costs of production of these energy crops based on cost estimates in Chen et al (2014). The costs of producing miscanthus and switchgrass include the costs of inputs including fertilizer, seed and chemicals; machinery required for establishment and harvest of bioenergy crops; and storage and transportation.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supply of cellulosic biomass in Illinois and implications for the Conservation Reserve Program

Chen

2014

GCB Bioenergy

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We developed a mathematical programming model to estimate the supply of cellulosic biomass in Illinois at various biomass prices and examine the implications of biomass production for the maintenance costs of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). We find that Illinois has the potential to produce about 38.4-54.5 million dry metric tons (MT) of biomass in 2020 at a biomass price of $150/MT, depending on the production costs of cellulosic feedstocks, residue collection technology, and rates of yield increases of conventional crops. Corn stover will account for more than 65% of the total biomass production across biomass prices and the scenarios considered, while the roles of wheat straw and energy crops are quite limited. Given biomass prices of $50/MT-$150/ MT, many landowners would convert their expiring CRP lands to croplands. To maintain the size of the CRP during the 2007-2020 period at the 2007 levels in Illinois, total program maintenance costs would be $104.6-176.5 million at a biomass price of $50/MT, depending on biomass production conditions and crop yields on CRP lands. This would increase to $155.2-245.4 million at a biomass price of $150/MT.

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Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supply of cellulosic biomass in Illinois and implications for the Conservation Reserve Program

Chen

2014

GCB Bioenergy

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“…The model is solved iteratively for a 30 (alternatively 15 or 50) year planning horizon. After solving each 30 (15 or 50) year market equilibrium problem, we take the first five year period's solution values for prices, land available in different categories, and age distribution of forest stock as 'realized', move the horizon one period forward and solve the updated model again (see Chen et al 2014). Model formulation is provided in the supplementary information.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We undertake this analysis by developing an integrated dynamic, price-endogenous, partial equilibrium model of the agricultural and forestry sectors in the US with detailed life-cycle GHG accounting to investigate not only the direct emissions associated with the production, transportation, and conversion of the biomass to pellets but also the accompanying indirect market and land use effects induced by changes in prices of forest products and returns to agricultural and forestlands. This paper extends the Biofuel and Environmental Policy Analysis Model (BEPAM) developed previously as an integrated model of the agricultural and transportation sectors in the US (Huang et al 2013, Chen et al 2014 by integrating it with the forestry sector from the Forestry and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model (FASOM) (Adams et al 1996 to examine the economic and GHG implications of the increased use of forest-based bioenergy development. The combined model, BEPAM-F, is a dynamic, nonlinear programming, multi-market equilibrium model that integrates the transportation, agricultural, and forestry sectors in the US (Hudiburg et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon savings with transatlantic trade in pellets: accounting for market-driven effects

Wang

Dwivedi

Abt

et al. 2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Miscanthus yields are simulated using the biogeochemical DayCent model at county-level; delivered biomass yields are obtained assuming 20% harvesting loss, 7% storage loss, and 2% transportation loss (see Dwivedi et al 2015;Jain et al 2010). A description of the assumptions underlying the cost data for all crops can be found in Chen et al (2014).…”

Section: Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Life-cycle GHG intensity of different types of biofuels are obtained by adding up emissions during feedstock production and transportation to those during feedstock conversion to biofuel. The GHG emissions from a corn ethanol refinery are assumed to be 0.64 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) per L and from a cellulosic refinery (net of co-product electricity generated) are À0.09 kg CO 2 e per L (Chen et al 2014). We do not consider the GHG savings due to the displacement of gasoline by the mandated level of biofuel production.…”

Section: Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mix of First- and Second-Generation Biofuels to Meet Multiple Environmental Objectives: Implications for Policy at a Watershed Scale

Housh

Khanna

Cai

2015

Water Econs. Policy

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Biofuel mandates are being widely used by countries to achieve multiple objectives of energy security and climate change mitigation. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in the US specifies arbitrarily chosen volumetric targets for different types of biofuels in the US based on their greenhouse gas intensity only. Cellulosic biofuels from high yielding energy crops like miscanthus have the potential to co-generate multiple environmental impacts, including reducing nitrate runoff, being a sink for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and providing a given volume of biofuel with less diversion of land from food crop production than corn ethanol, but at a significantly higher cost. This paper quantifies the tradeoffs between profitability, food and fuel production, GHG emissions and nitrate runoff reduction with different types of biofuels in the Sangamon watershed in Illinois and analyzes the optimal mix of biofuels as well as the policies that should supplement the mandate to achieve multiple environmental outcomes. We find that a two-thirds share of cellulosic biofuel in the mandated level could reduce nitrate run-off by 20% while reducing GHG emissions by 88-100% but would reduce profits by 15-27% depending on whether a GHG policy or a Nitrate policy is used relative to the case where the mandate is met by corn ethanol alone. Additionally, the ratio of corn stover to miscanthus used to produce cellulosic biofuels is higher under a GHG policy compared to a Nitrate policy that achieves the same level of nitrate reduction. Our results show that the optimal mix of different types of biofuels and the policy to induce it depend on the environmental objectives and the

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Alternative transportation fuel standards: Welfare effects and climate benefits

Cited by 84 publications

References 28 publications

Supply of cellulosic biomass in Illinois and implications for the Conservation Reserve Program

Supply of cellulosic biomass in Illinois and implications for the Conservation Reserve Program

Carbon savings with transatlantic trade in pellets: accounting for market-driven effects

Mix of First- and Second-Generation Biofuels to Meet Multiple Environmental Objectives: Implications for Policy at a Watershed Scale

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