Are Biofuels the Answer

1
Are Biofuels the Answer?

• By Catherine Clark
• Econ 539 Presentation 2

2
Main Research Questions

• Will biofuels allow the U.S. to be energy
  independent?
• Are they more environmentally friendly than the
  fossil fuels they will replace?
• What are the unintended consequences of promoting
  biofuels on a national level?

3
What is a biofuel?

• A biofuel is any biomass (feedstock) that can be
  turned into liquid fuel.
• Ex. Corn has cellulosic material that is
  separated and processed to make ethanol.
• Ex. Soybeans are broken down into alcohol which
  is then converted to biodiesel.

4
What is the Current U.S. Policy?

• 14 Provisions in the EPAct 2005 involve subsidies
  for biofuels.
• The act encourages the USDA, DOE, EPA to
  partner to create a biofuel that will be
  commercially available and priced competitively
  with petroleum fossil fuel.
• Other policy goals include moving to a fuel
  source that is less polluting than fossil fuel.

5
Review of the Literature

• Hill et al. (2006) determined using life cycle
  analysis that corn ethanol is more polluting than
  just fossil fuels when mixed at high quantities
  for CO, VOC, PM10, SOx, NOx.
• They also determined that soybean biodiesel is
  less polluting than diesel for VOC, CO, PM10, and
  SOx.
• If we use all of the corn and soybeans grown to
  make fuel we could cover 2.4 and 2.9 U.S.
  ethanol and biofuel demand.

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Efficiency of Some Feedstocks
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What about using marginal lands?

• Walsh et al. (2003) determined at a farmgate
  price of 1.83 per Giga Joule of energy, farmers
  with Conservation Reserve Program lands would
  benefit from growing biofuel crops instead of
  traditional crops.
• Schneider and McCarl (2003) furthered this study
  to determine biofuels were the best way to
  mitigate excess carbon emissions if carbon sold
  for 70/ton.

8
Other Options

• Jaeger et al. concludes that a gas tax or raising
  CAFE standards is a cheaper way to mitigate green
  house gas emissions than producing biofuels.

9
Concerns With the Literature

• It does not take into account excess pesticide or
  fertilizer use in growing crops.
• It does not take into account how food supply
  will be affected when farmers are encouraged to
  sell traditional food commodities at higher
  prices to produce biofuels instead.

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Conclusion

• Can biofuels make the U.S. energy independent?
  No. The best we can hope for is less dependence
  of foreign oil.
• Are biofuels better for the environment than
  fossil fuels? We are not sure, but this is
  certainly not the cheapest way to reduce green
  house gas emissions.
• Who is benefiting from the (politically
  attractive) billions of dollars currently
  subsidizing biofuels?
• You be the judge of that.

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If you would like to learn more

• Aden, Andy, Rovert Wooley, and Mark Yancey.
  (2000). Oregon Biomass-to-Ethanol Project
  Pre-feasibility Study and Modeling Results. NREL
  National Renewable Energy Laboratory Publication.
• Hill, Jason, Erik Nelson, David Tilman, Stephen
  Polasky, and Douglas Tiffany. (2006).
  Environmental, Economic, and Energetic Costs and
  Benefits of Biodiesel and Ethanol Biofuels.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
  103(30), 11206-11210.
• Jaeger, William K., Robin Cross, and Thorsten M.
  Egelkraut. Biofuel Potential in Oregon
  Background and Evaluation of Options. Forthcoming
  to Oregon State University Press.
• Kemppainen, Amber J. and David R. Shonnard.
  (2005). Comparative Life-Cycle Assessments for
  Biomass-to-Ethanol Production from Different
  Regional Feedstocks. Biotechnology Progress,
  21(4), 1075-1084.
• Kim, Seungdo and Bruce E. Dale. (2005). Life
  Cycle Assessment of Various Cropping Systems
  Utilized for Producing Biofuels Bioethanol and
  Biodiesel. Biomass and Bioenergy, 29, 426-439.
• Schneider, Uwe A., and Bruce A. McCarl. (2003).
  Economic Potential of Biomass Based Fuels for
  Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation. Environmental
  and Resource Economics, 24, 291-312.
• Walsh, Marie E., Daniel G. De La Torre Ugarte,
  Hosein Shapouri, and Stephen P. Slinsky. (2003).
  Bioenergy Crop Production in the United States.
  Environmental and Resource Economics, 24, 313-333.