A sustainability framework for assessing studies about marginal lands for planting perennial energy crops

Jiang, Wei; Jacobson, Michael G.; Langholtz, Matthew H.

doi:10.1002/bbb.1948

Title: A sustainability framework for assessing studies about marginal lands for planting perennial energy crops

Journal Article · 25 November 2018 · Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1948 · OSTI ID:1490591

Jiang, Wei ^[1]; Jacobson, Michael G. ^[2];

^[3]

Athenium Analytics, Washington, DC (United States)
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

One of the issues with large-scale perennial energy crop production is increasing land use competition between ‘food and feed’ and ‘fuel’. A commonly suggested solution is to limit energy crop plantation to marginal lands. However, the concept and the methods used to assess marginal lands remain vague and inconsistent across bioenergy-related studies. In this work, we propose a sustainability-based framework to review and classify studies for marginal lands used for bioenergy crops. This framework innovatively puts the marginal land in a sustainability-based framework, showing the interaction of biophysical, socioeconomic, qualitative, and quantitative assessments. We found that current studies lack integration of biophysical and socioeconomic considerations in the marginal land analysis. They also lack qualitative approaches to assess marginal land. Lastly, we suggest that future work should emphasize integrating biophysical, socioeconomic, quantitative, and qualitative analysis for sustainable marginal land identification and use.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1490591

Journal Information:: Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, Journal Name: Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 13; ISSN 1932-104X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Modeling spatial dependence and economic hotspots in landowners’ willingness to supply bioenergy crops in the northeastern United States Jiang, Wei; Zipp, Katherine Y.; Langholtz, Matthew H. GCB Bioenergy https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12617	journal	May 2019
The Impact of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program on the United States Forest Products Market: An Application of the Global Forest Products Model Jiang, Wei; Carter, Douglas; Fu, Hanliang Forests, Vol. 10, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.3390/f10030215	journal	February 2019

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Title: A sustainability framework for assessing studies about marginal lands for planting perennial energy crops

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