An assessment of the economic and environmental potential of biomass production in an agricultural region

Bryan, Brett A.; Ward, John; Hobbs, Trevor

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2007.11.003

Cited by 58 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Assuming linear input-output relationships for agricultural production processes is thus problematic. Varying yields combined with socioeconomic factors affect costs and net revenues of a production site (Bryan et al 2008). Profitability of production, which impacts the likelihood of land use changes, is thus also a function of location.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regulations, land ownership, and environmental constraints may also limit the locations that can be dedicated to fuel crops regardless of their intrinsic productive capacity. Following a general GIS modeling approach suggested by Bryan et al (2008), we found readily available spatial information for the San Joaquin Valley for potential yields, costs, and returns of feedstocks, current land use/land cover, and habitat types. At least for the USA, and probably most developed countries, such digital information is commonly available.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For each crop type and production target in Table 1, the GIS model returns a list of land parcels that, if used for fuel crop production, would collectively achieve the required annual output. To achieve this, we roughly follow the GIS-based modeling approach suggested by Bryan et al (2008) that integrates soil productivity for each biofuel crop type with the potential revenues and costs of production. The resulting spatially explicit land use scenarios are intended to be feasible and plausible, but not meant as predictions of actual land use changes due to given fuel crop demand.…”

Section: Gis-based Crop Production Scenario Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first step was mapping the production potential for each feedstock (Noon and Daly 1996;Voivontas et al 2001;Price et al 2004;Hughes and Mackes 2006;Bryan et al 2008;Hellmann and Verburg 2010). The production potential for corn and sugar beets was based on estimates by soil types and expressed as spatially varying crop yields (Soil Conservation Service 1994).…”

Section: Gis-based Crop Production Scenario Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupling GIS and LCA for biodiversity assessments of land use

Geyer

Stoms

Lindner

et al. 2010

Int J Life Cycle Assess

108

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Purpose Geospatial details about land use are necessary to assess its potential impacts on biodiversity. Geographic information systems (GIS) are adept at modeling land use in a spatially explicit manner, while life cycle assessment (LCA) does not conventionally utilize geospatial information. This study presents a proof-of-concept approach for coupling GIS and LCA for biodiversity assessments of land use and applies it to a case study of ethanol production from agricultural crops in California. Materials and methods GIS modeling was used to generate crop production scenarios for corn and sugar beets that met a range of ethanol production targets. The selected study area was a four-county region in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, USA. The resulting land use maps were translated into maps of habitat types. From these maps, vectors were created that contained the total areas for each habitat type in the study region. These habitat compositions are treated as elementary input flows and used to calculate different biodiversity impact indicators in a second paper (Geyer et al., submitted). Results and discussion Ten ethanol production scenarios were developed with GIS modeling. Current land use is added as baseline scenario. The parcels selected for corn and sugar beet production were generally in different locations. Moreover, corn and sugar beets are classified as different habitat types. Consequently, the scenarios differed in both the habitat types converted and in the habitat types expanded. Importantly, land use increased nonlinearly with increasing ethanol production targets. The GIS modeling for this study used spatial data that are commonly available in most developed countries and only required functions that are provided in virtually any commercial or opensource GIS software package. Conclusions This study has demonstrated that GIS-based inventory modeling of land use allows important refinements in LCA theory and practice. Using GIS, land use can be modeled as a geospatial and nonlinear function of output. For each spatially explicit process, land use can be expressed within the conventional structure of LCA methodology as a set of elementary input flows of habitat types.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gis-based Crop Production Scenario Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gis-based Crop Production Scenario Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Coupling GIS and LCA for biodiversity assessments of land use

Geyer

Stoms

Lindner

et al. 2010

Int J Life Cycle Assess

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the Australian context, the CSIRO has also modelled the economic viability and environmental impacts of eucalypt species for biomass production at a regional scale using spatially explicit modelling approach (Bryan, Ward & Hobbs 2008; Bryan, King & Wang 7 2010). The focus of their environmental assessment was, however, again restricted to carbon mitigation and region-specific issues such as salinity and wind erosion.…”

Section: Spatially Explicit Framework To Evaluate the Environmental mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Consequences of Land use Changes for Bioenergy Crop Production at a Regional Scale

Miyake¹

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Sustainability has become a focus of global bioenergy (especially biofuel) policy and research over the past few years. Due to the rapid expansion of demand for global bioenergy and increased sustainability requirements, land use change associated with bioenergy crops (hereafter referred to as 'bioenergy-driven land use change') has emerged as an important research topic. The use of degraded land, marginal and abandoned agricultural lands (hereafter referred to as 'underutilised agricultural land') has been proposed for non-food and lignocellulosic crop production. However, the implications and consequences of the use of these lands remain highly uncertain. This was a study to evaluate the regional environmental effects of the use of underutilised agricultural land for bioenergy production using a spatial modelling approach and land use change scenarios in a case study region-the Burnett River catchment, Australia.The aim of this research was to evaluate whether land use change scenarios that involve bioenergy crop production on underutilised agricultural land can enhance regional-scale environmental outcomes when compared with current land uses, and to provide recommendations and suggestions for future land use options. The scenarios assessed in this research, including the selection of bioenergy crops (and the associated management practices) and land use change pathways, were developed to minimise potential environmental impacts. In line with four research objectives based on the aim, a review of past studies relating to bioenergy-driven land use changes was conducted to better understand their dynamics and their effects both in the past, and in future projections (Objective 1, Chapter 2). A spatially explicit evaluation framework was developed to evaluate regional scale environmental consequences associated with land use changes (Objective 2, Chapter 3). The evaluation framework focused on the issues of water quantity and quality (and soil erosion), and terrestrial biodiversity, the impacts of which are commonly experienced regardless of geographical region. It was tested in a case study region in subtropical Queensland, Australia (Objective 3, Chapter 5), and then applied to six bioenergy-driven land use change scenarios to quantify the impacts and compare the results with a baseline (2005/06) and with other scenarios (Objective 4, Chapter 6). The findings from the evaluation were synthesised as recommendations for future bioenergy sustainability research community and policy, and also as a basis for decision making concerning sustainable land use options for future bioenergy production (Chapter 6 and 7).The results of the land use change scenario evaluation indicated that bioenergy crop scenarios could benefit regional environmental quality in the case study region only when:(i) open grazing areas (pastures) were used as the plantation site, ii (ii) native woody perennial bioenergy crops were used (e.g. Pongamia [Millettia pinnata] or Short Rotation Coppice [SRC] eucalyptus species), and (iii) t...

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From the petroeconomy to the bioeconomy: Integrating bioenergy production with agricultural demands

Mathews

2009

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

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Production of biomass for bioenergy generation, and in particular production of biologically derived liquid fuels, is attracting great interest as an alternative to the fossil fuel economy. Biofuels represent as yet only 1% of world agricultural output, but this small extension has triggered widespread fears, many now shown to be groundless, such as the fear that it was biofuels that drove up food prices in 2008. This perspective reviews the literature on the extent to which biofuel production can be integrated into agricultural production, taking a global view of the potential for land, water and other resources to be extended beyond current food, feed and fi ber applications. As opposed to the focus on negative impacts, there are benefi cial practices in biofuels that could be expected to propagate to agriculture more generally and have a positive impact on yields and practices. These include (1) promoting a shift from wasteful annual crops to perennials, particularly low-input high-diversity (LIHD) crops; (2) sequestering carbon in soil both organically and as biochar; (3) improving conservative water management practices; and (4) recycling resources.The possibilities of encouraging biofuel production (and biomass for bioenergy generally) in the tropical South, for consumption in the temperate North, based on certifi cation of such sustainable practices in the South, could be expanded if global trade in biofuels were liberalized.

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An assessment of the economic and environmental potential of biomass production in an agricultural region

Cited by 58 publications

References 32 publications

Coupling GIS and LCA for biodiversity assessments of land use

Coupling GIS and LCA for biodiversity assessments of land use

Environmental Consequences of Land use Changes for Bioenergy Crop Production at a Regional Scale

From the petroeconomy to the bioeconomy: Integrating bioenergy production with agricultural demands

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