Corn Ethanol and U.S. Biofuel Policy 10 Years Later

Corn Ethanol and U.S. Biofuel Policy 10 Years Later PDF Author: Gal Hochman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
We conduct meta-analyses of the estimated impacts of corn ethanol on food and fuel prices, as well as greenhouse gases, and analyze the implications for the balance of trade. The meta-analyses suggest that corn ethanol has minor effects on greenhouse gas emissions and significant yet moderate effects on food and fuel prices. However, corn ethanol has a relatively significant impact on fuel security in terms of reductions in the import of oil to the U.S. and its overall effect on the U.S. balance of trade.

Corn Ethanol and U.S. Biofuel Policy 10 Years Later

Corn Ethanol and U.S. Biofuel Policy 10 Years Later PDF Author: Gal Hochman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
We conduct meta-analyses of the estimated impacts of corn ethanol on food and fuel prices, as well as greenhouse gases, and analyze the implications for the balance of trade. The meta-analyses suggest that corn ethanol has minor effects on greenhouse gas emissions and significant yet moderate effects on food and fuel prices. However, corn ethanol has a relatively significant impact on fuel security in terms of reductions in the import of oil to the U.S. and its overall effect on the U.S. balance of trade.

Renewable Fuel Standard

Renewable Fuel Standard PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309187516
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
In the United States, we have come to depend on plentiful and inexpensive energy to support our economy and lifestyles. In recent years, many questions have been raised regarding the sustainability of our current pattern of high consumption of nonrenewable energy and its environmental consequences. Further, because the United States imports about 55 percent of the nation's consumption of crude oil, there are additional concerns about the security of supply. Hence, efforts are being made to find alternatives to our current pathway, including greater energy efficiency and use of energy sources that could lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as nuclear and renewable sources, including solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels. The United States has a long history with biofuels and the nation is on a course charted to achieve a substantial increase in biofuels. Renewable Fuel Standard evaluates the economic and environmental consequences of increasing biofuels production as a result of Renewable Fuels Standard, as amended by EISA (RFS2). The report describes biofuels produced in 2010 and those projected to be produced and consumed by 2022, reviews model projections and other estimates of the relative impact on the prices of land, and discusses the potential environmental harm and benefits of biofuels production and the barriers to achieving the RFS2 consumption mandate. Policy makers, investors, leaders in the transportation sector, and others with concerns for the environment, economy, and energy security can rely on the recommendations provided in this report.

Biofuels and Sustainability

Biofuels and Sustainability PDF Author: Kazuhiko Takeuchi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 4431548955
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This open access book presents a comprehensive analysis of biofuel use strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective using sustainability science. This interdisciplinary perspective (social science-natural science) means that the strategies and policy options proposed will have significant impacts on the economy and society alike. Biofuels are expected to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, revitalizing economies in agricultural communities and alleviating poverty. However, despite these anticipated benefits, international organizations such as the FAO, OECD and UN have published reports expressing concerns that biofuel promotion may lead to deforestation, water pollution and water shortages. The impacts of biofuel use are extensive, cross-sectoral and complex, and as such, comprehensive analyses are required in order to assess the extent to which biofuels can contribute to sustainable societies. Applying interdisciplinary sustainability science concepts and methodologies, the book helps to enhance the establishment of a sustainable society as well as the development of appropriate responses to a global need for urgent action on current issues related to biofuels.

Ethanol and Corn

Ethanol and Corn PDF Author: Marilyn C. Walchuck
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781617615979
Category : Corn products industry
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
U.S. policy to expand the production of biofuel for domestic energy use has significant implications for agriculture and resource use. While ongoing research and development investment may radically alter the way biofuel is produced in the future, for now, corn-based ethanol continues to account for most biofuel production. As corn ethanol production increases, so does the production of corn. The effect on agricultural commodity markets has been national, but commodity production adjustments, and resulting environmental consequences, vary across regions. Changes in the crop sector have also affected the cost of feed for livestock producers. As the Nation demands more biofuel production, and markets for new biofuel feedstocks, such as crop residues emerge, the agricultural landscape will be further transformed. This book explores the changes and expanding usage of ethanol and corn biofuels.

The Economics of Biofuel Policies

The Economics of Biofuel Policies PDF Author: Harry de Gorter
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137414855
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies. The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.

The Lost Innocence of Ethanol

The Lost Innocence of Ethanol PDF Author: Benjamin Munro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In the United States, rationales for corn ethanol policies have included national energy security, air pollution abatement, clean technology development, and climate change mitigation. The ostensible benefits of corn ethanol have been used to justify the transfer of federal funds toward corn and ethanol production subsidies, consumption mandates, and import restrictions, plus substantial research and development efforts. Public and private sector funding has also focused on efforts to commercially develop biofuels from advanced technology using cellulosic biomass. Despite decades of public and commercial interest, cellulosic ethanol has failed to commercialize, corn ethanol remains heavily dependent on subsidies, and each of the alleged benefits of ethanol has been hotly disputed. This research examines the links between interest groups and rationales for biofuel policies. Drawing from Foucauldian discourse analysis, the research identifies key discourses supporting and opposed to biofuel development, and their relation to broader issues in environmental and energy politics. This approach involved a detailed review of newspaper archives, policy documents, Congressional bills, committee hearings and debates, governmental and non-governmental reports, and scientific research findings. It reveals how a powerful coalition of agricultural interests succeeded in harnessing biofuel discourses to popular public and political environmental and energy concerns. The primary discourses identified were Environmental Bureaucracy, Free Markets, Ecological Modernization, and Limits. A common element in the first three of these was Techno-Optimism. A Limits discourse opposed ethanol expansion, primarily based on a narrative of competition for agricultural land, and stood apart from other discourses in its mistrust of science and technology to resolve environmental problems. The research concludes that Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a useful tool for examining key shifts in policy debates, for clarifying the relationship between scientific knowledge and discursive power, for understanding divisions within environmental discourse, and for revealing the importance of scale in environmental public policy process.

Effects of Increased Biofuels on the U.S. Economy in 2022

Effects of Increased Biofuels on the U.S. Economy in 2022 PDF Author: Mark Gehlhar
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437941826
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Achieving greater energy security by reducing dependence on foreign petroleum is a goal of U.S. energy policy. The Energy Independence and Security Act calls for a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2), which mandates that the U.S. increase the volume of biofuel that is blended into transportation fuel from 9 to 36 billion gallons from 2008 to 2022. This report examines how meeting the RFS-2 would affect various components of the U.S. economy. If biofuel production advances with cost-reducing technology, and petroleum prices continue to rise as projected, the RFS-2 could provide economywide benefits. However, the actual level of benefits depends on future oil prices and whether tax credits are retained. Illus. A print on demand publication.

Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States

Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030911361X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
National interests in greater energy independence, concurrent with favorable market forces, have driven increased production of corn-based ethanol in the United States and research into the next generation of biofuels. The trend is changing the national agricultural landscape and has raised concerns about potential impacts on the nation's water resources. To help illuminate these issues, the National Research Council held a colloquium on July 12, 2007 in Washington, DC. Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States, based in part on discussions at the colloquium, concludes that if projected future increases in use of corn for ethanol production do occur, the increase in harm to water quality could be considerable from the increases in fertilizer use, pesticide use, and soil erosion associated with growing crops such as corn. Water supply problems could also develop, both from the water needed to grow biofuels crops and water used at ethanol processing plants, especially in regions where water supplies are already overdrawn. The production of "cellulosic ethanol," derived from fibrous material such as wheat straw, native grasses, and forest trimmings is expected to have less water quality impact but cannot yet be produced on a commerical scale. To move toward a goal of reducing water impacts of biofuels, a policy bridge will likely be needed to encourage growth of new technologies, best agricultural practies, and the development of traditional and cellulosic crops that require less water and fertilizer and are optimized for fuel production.

Economic Analysis of Land Use in Global Climate Change Policy

Economic Analysis of Land Use in Global Climate Change Policy PDF Author: Thomas W. Hertel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135978824
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
Land has long been overlooked in economics. That is now changing. A substantial part of the solution to the climate crisis may lie in growing crops for fuel and using trees for storing carbon. This book investigates the potential of these options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, estimates the costs to the economy, and analyses the trade-offs with growing food. The first part presents new databases that are necessary to underpin policy-relevant research in the field of climate change while describing and critically assessing the underlying data, the methodologies used, and the first applications. Together, the new data and the extended models allow for a thorough and comprehensive analysis of a land use and climate policy. This book outlines key empirical and analytical issues associated with modelling land use and land use change in the context of global climate change policy. It places special emphasis on the economy-wide competition for land and other resources, especially; The implications of changes in land use for the cost of climate change mitigation, Land use change as a result of mitigation, and Feedback from changes in the global climate to land use. By offering synthesis and evaluation of a variety of different approaches to this challenging field of research, this book will serve as a key reference for future work in the economic analysis of land use and climate change policy.

Sustainable Ethanol

Sustainable Ethanol PDF Author: Jeffrey Goettemoeller
Publisher: Prime Books
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
In this resource, the authors uncover the benefits and limitations of North America's fuel ethanol industry.