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Title: Sustainable Harvest for Food and Fuel

Abstract

The DOE Biomass Program recently implemented the Biofuels Initiative, or 30x30 program, with the dual goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by making cellulosic ethanol cost competitive with gasoline by 2012 and by replacing 30 percent of gasoline consumption with biofuels by 2030. Experience to date with increasing ethanol production suggests that it distorts agricultural markets and therefore raises concerns about the sustainability of the DOE 30 X 30 effort: Can the U.S. agricultural system produce sufficient feedstocks for biofuel production and meet the food price and availability expectations of American consumers without causing environmental degradation that would curtail the production of both food and fuel? Efforts are underway to develop computer-based modeling tools that address this concern and support the DOE 30 X 30 goals. Beyond technical agronomic and economic concerns, however, such models must account for the publics’ growing interest in sustainable agriculture and in the mitigation of predicted global climate change. This paper discusses ongoing work at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies that investigates the potential consequences and long-term sustainability of projected biomass harvests by identifying and incorporating “sustainable harvest indicators” in a computer modeling strategy.

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
DOE - EE
OSTI Identifier:
912902
Report Number(s):
INL/CON-07-12655
TRN: US200802%%441
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC07-99ID-13727
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Idaho Academy of Science 49th Annual Meeting and Symposium,Idaho Falls, Idaho,04/19/2007,04/21/2007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 - BIOMASS FUELS, 29 - ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; AGRICULTURE; AVAILABILITY; BIOFUELS; BIOMASS; CLIMATIC CHANGE; COMPUTERS; ECONOMICS; ETHANOL; FOOD; GASOLINE; MITIGATION; PRICES; PRODUCTION; SIMULATION; biomass; DOE 30 X 30 program; sustainability

Citation Formats

Grosshans, Raymond R, Kostelnik, Kevin, M., and Jacobson, Jacob J. Sustainable Harvest for Food and Fuel. United States: N. p., 2007. Web. doi:10.2172/915529.
Grosshans, Raymond R, Kostelnik, Kevin, M., & Jacobson, Jacob J. Sustainable Harvest for Food and Fuel. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/915529
Grosshans, Raymond R, Kostelnik, Kevin, M., and Jacobson, Jacob J. 2007. "Sustainable Harvest for Food and Fuel". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/915529. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/912902.
@article{osti_912902,
title = {Sustainable Harvest for Food and Fuel},
author = {Grosshans, Raymond R and Kostelnik, Kevin, M. and Jacobson, Jacob J},
abstractNote = {The DOE Biomass Program recently implemented the Biofuels Initiative, or 30x30 program, with the dual goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by making cellulosic ethanol cost competitive with gasoline by 2012 and by replacing 30 percent of gasoline consumption with biofuels by 2030. Experience to date with increasing ethanol production suggests that it distorts agricultural markets and therefore raises concerns about the sustainability of the DOE 30 X 30 effort: Can the U.S. agricultural system produce sufficient feedstocks for biofuel production and meet the food price and availability expectations of American consumers without causing environmental degradation that would curtail the production of both food and fuel? Efforts are underway to develop computer-based modeling tools that address this concern and support the DOE 30 X 30 goals. Beyond technical agronomic and economic concerns, however, such models must account for the publics’ growing interest in sustainable agriculture and in the mitigation of predicted global climate change. This paper discusses ongoing work at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies that investigates the potential consequences and long-term sustainability of projected biomass harvests by identifying and incorporating “sustainable harvest indicators” in a computer modeling strategy.},
doi = {10.2172/915529},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/912902}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}

Conference:
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