Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass, mostly in liquid form, within a time frame sufficiently short to consider that their feed- stock (biomass) can be renewed, contrarily to fossil fuels. This paper reviews the current and future biofuel technologies, and their development impacts (including on the climate) within given policy and economic frameworks. Current technologies make it possible to provide first gener- ation biodiesel, ethanol or biogas to the transport sector to be blended with fossil fuels. Still under-development 2nd generation biofuels from lignocellulose should be available on the market by 2020. Research is active on the improvement of their conversion efficiency. A ten-fold increase compared with current cost-effective capacities would make them highly competitive. Within bioenergy policies, emphasis has been put on biofuels for transportation as this sector is fast-growing and represents a major source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Compared with fossil fuels, biofuel combustion can emit less greenhouse gases throughout their life cycle, considering that part of the emitted CO2 returns to the atmosphere where it was fixed from by photosynthesis in the first place. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess the potential environmental impacts of biofuel chains, notably the impact on global warming. This tool, whose holistic nature is fundamental to avoid pollution trade-offs, is a standardised methodology that should make comparisons between biofuel and fossil fuel chains objective and thorough. However, it is a complex and time-consuming process, which requires lots of data, and whose methodology is still lacking harmonisation. Hence the life-cycle performances of biofuel chains vary widely in the literature. Furthermore, LCA is a site- and time- independent tool that cannot take into account the spatial and temporal dimensions of emissions, and can hardly serve as a decision-making tool either at local or regional levels. Focusing on greenhouse gases, emission factors used in LCAs give a rough estimate of the potential average emissions on a national level. However, they do not take into account the types of crop, soil or management practices, for instance. Modelling the impact of local factors on the determinism of greenhouse gas emissions can provide better estimates for LCA on the local level, which would be the relevant scale and degree of reliability for decision-making purposes. Nevertheless, a deeper understanding of the processes involved, most notably N2O emissions, is still needed to definitely improve the accuracy of LCA. Perennial crops are a promising option for biofuels, due to their rapid and efficient use of nitrogen, and their limited farming operations. However, the main overall limiting factor to biofuel development will ultimately be land availability. Given the available land areas, population growth rate and consumption behaviours, it would be possible to reach by 2030 a global 10% biofuel share in the transport sector, contributing to lower global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1 GtCO 2e q.year 1 (IEA, 2006), provided that harmonised policies ensure that s ustainability criteria for the production systems are respected worldwide. Furthermore, policies should also be more integrative across sectors, so that changes in energy efficiency, the automotive sector and global consumption patterns converge towards drastic reduction of the pressure on resources. Indeed, neither biofuels nor other energy source or carriers are likely to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic pressure on resources in a range that would compensate for this pressure growth. Hence, the first step is to reduce this pressure by starting from the variable that drives it up, i.e. anthropic consumptions. biofuels/ energy crops / perennials/ LCA / greenhouse gases / climate change / political and economic frameworks / bioenergy potential/ land-use change/ nitrous oxide/ carbon dioxide/ agricultural practices

/pdf/biofuels-greenhouse-gases-and-climate-change-a-review-u3s67s7eqb.pdf

Biofuels, greenhouse gases and climate change. A review.

Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass, mostly in liquid form, within a time frame sufficiently short to consider that their feedstock (biomass) can be renewed, contrarily to fossil fuels This paper reviews the current and future biofuel technologies, and their development impacts (including on the climate) within given policy and economic frameworks Current technologies make it possible to provide first generation biodiesel, ethanol or biogas to the transport sector to be blended with fossil fuels Still under-development 2nd generation biofuels from lignocellulose should be available on the market by 2020 Research is active on the improvement of their conversion efficiency A ten-fold increase compared with current cost-effective capacities would make them highly competitive Within bioenergy policies, emphasis has been put on biofuels for transportation as this sector is fast-growing and represents a major source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions Compared with fossil fuels, biofuel combustion can emit less greenhouse gases throughout their life cycle, considering that part of the emitted CO2 returns to the atmosphere where it was fixed from by photosynthesis in the first place Life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess the potential environmental impacts of biofuel chains, notably the impact on global warming This tool, whose holistic nature is fundamental to avoid pollution trade-offs, is a standardised methodology that should make comparisons between biofuel and fossil fuel chains objective and thorough However, it is a complex and time-consuming process, which requires lots of data, and whose methodology is still lacking harmonisation Hence the life-cycle performances of biofuel chains vary widely in the** literature Furthermore, LCA is a site- and time-independent tool that cannot take into account the spatial and temporal dimensions of emissions, and can hardly serve as a decision-making tool either at local or regional levels Focusing on greenhouse gases, emission factors used in LCAs give a rough estimate of the potential average emissions on a national level However, they do not take into account the types of crop, soil or management practices, for instance Modelling the impact of local factors on the determinism of greenhouse gas emissions can provide better estimates for LCA on the local level, which would be the relevant scale and degree of reliability for decision-making purposes Nevertheless, a deeper understanding of the processes involved, most notably N2O emissions, is still needed to definitely improve the accuracy of LCA Perennial crops are a promising option for biofuels, due to their rapid and efficient use of nitrogen, and their limited farming operations However, the main overall limiting factor to biofuel development will ultimately be land availability Given the available land areas, population growth rate and consumption behaviours, it would be possible to reach by 2030 a global 10% biofuel share in the transport sector, contributing to lower global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1 GtCO2 eq per year (IEA, 2006), provided that harmonised policies ensure that sustainability criteria for the production systems are respected worldwide Furthermore, policies should also be more integrative across sectors, so that changes in energy efficiency, the automotive sector and global consumption patterns converge towards drastic reduction of the pressure on resources Indeed, neither biofuels nor other energy source or carriers are likely to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic pressure on resources in a range that would compensate for this pressure growth Hence, the first step is to reduce this pressure by starting from the variable that drives it up, ie anthropic consumptions

Biofuels, Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change

Ethanol production in the United States has been steadily growing and is expected to continue growing. Many politicians see increased ethanol use as a way to promote environmental goals, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and energy security goals. This paper provides a benefit-cost analysis of increasing ethanol use based on an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. We find that the cost of increasing ethanol production to almost ten billion gallons a year is likely to exceed the benefits by about three billion dollars annually. We also suggest that earlier attempts aimed at promoting ethanol would have likely failed a benefit-cost test, and that Congress should consider repealing ethanol incentive programs, such as the ethanol tariff and tax credit.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1242445_code344990.pdf?abstractid=1027692

The Benefits and Costs of Ethanol: An Evaluation of the Government's Analysis

The potential long-term impacts and systemic effects of incentives are of great interest to the biofuels industry and decision makers, particularly with regards to forthcoming mandates for biofuels. We have used the Biomass Scenario Model (BSM) to build a theoretical understanding of the role of incentives on the evolution of the biomass-to-biofuels market. It models a broad range of biofuels such as renewable gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. In this paper, we focus on cellulosic ethanol as we describe model-based insights into potential incentives that are aimed at stimulating industry growth while tempering overall incentive-related government expenditures. Subsequent research can test the key insights gained through BSM simulations against actual policy implementation and actual outcomes.

Potential leverage points for development of the cellulosic ethanol industry supply chain

Corn markets are important for many industries, including the seed, fertilizer, meat production/processing, and agricultural machinery sectors, all of which are highly concentrated. Oligopoly theory suggests that corn input and field equipment suppliers likely benefit from policies that support corn markets, such as U.S. biofuels policy, whereas meat companies likely lose. This study investigates the impact of biofuels policy on U.S. agribusiness stock prices. Corn futures prices are found to have had a structural change in November 2006, consistent with the expansion of U.S. biofuels policy support. A linear two-factor (SP L13; Q14]. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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The impact of biofuels policy on agribusiness stock prices

This report describes measures employed by state governments and by the federal government to advance the production and use of ethanol fuel in the United States. The future of ethanol as an alternative transportation fuel poses a number of increasingly-important issues and decisions for California government, as the state becomes a larger consumer, and potentially a larger producer, of ethanol.

Tom MacDonald

Papers

Ethanol Fuels Incentives Applied in the U.S.: Reviewed from California's Perspective