Bioenergy and Land Use Change

Zhangcai Qin, Umakant Mishra, Astley Hastings, Zhangcai Qin, Umakant Mishra, Astley Hastings

• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781119297345
• eBook ISBN: 9781119297369
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geophysics

Although bioenergy is a renewable energy source, it is not without impact on the environment. Both the cultivation of crops specifically for use as biofuels and the use of agricultural byproducts to generate energy changes the landscape, affects ecosystems, and impacts the climate. Bioenergy and Land Use Change focuses on regional and global assessments of land use change related to bioenergy and the environmental impacts. This interdisciplinary volume provides both high level reviews and in-depth analyses on specific topics.

Volume highlights include:

• Land use change concepts, economics, and modeling
• Relationships between bioenergy and land use change
• Impacts on soil carbon, soil health, water quality, and the hydrologic cycle
• Impacts on natural capital and ecosystem services
• Effects of bioenergy on direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions
• Biogeochemical and biogeophysical climate regulation
• Uncertainties and challenges associated with land use change quantification and environmental impact assessments

Bioenergy and Land Use Change is a valuable resource for professionals, researchers, and graduate students from a wide variety of fields including energy, economics, ecology, geography, agricultural science, geoscience, and environmental science.

Read an interview with the editors to find out more: https://eos.org/editors-vox/bioenergys-impacts-on-the-landscape

Part I
Bioenergy and Land Use Change

1
Bioenergy and Land Use Change: An Overview

Pankaj Lal¹, Aditi Ranjan², Bernabas Wolde¹, Pralhad Burli¹, and Renata Blumberg³

¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

² MYMA Solutions LLC, Lincoln Park, New Jersey, USA

³ Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Abstract

Bioenergy production can have direct and indirect land use impacts. These impacts have varied implications, ranging from land tenure, commodity production, urbanization, carbon sequestration, and energy independence to several others. In recognition of its broad and intricate impacts, a growing amount of research focuses on this area, hoping to address the controversies and inform the relevant policies in a way that ensures more sustainable outcomes. In this chapter, we provide a summary of the research around land use change economics and modeling. We examine various concerns, as well as their empirical evidences, and outline the conceptual opportunities and challenges involved in measuring both direct and indirect land use change. We also describe a number of modeling methods that have been used in previous studies, including spatially disaggregated modeling approaches, econometric land use change approaches, and integrated environmental economic approaches. The chapter concludes with an analysis of policy imperatives and suggestions that could form the foundation of a more sustainable bioenergy development pathway.

1.1. INTRODUCTION

The United States is the largest consumer of petroleum products in the world, consuming around 7.45 million barrels per day in 2012 [Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2014]. A significant share of these petroleum products is imported from politically unstable regions of the world. This reliance on fossil fuels has led to economic, social, and environmental concerns that have gained public attention. Bioenergy appears to offer hope by reducing the gap between domestic energy supply and demand, diversifying energy sources, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and by providing socioeconomic benefits in the form of additional income and new jobs.

Bioenergy encompasses energy produced from biomass and includes fuels such as sugarcane‐ or corn‐based ethanol, biofuels produced from energy grasses, farm residue, and woody materials, as well as energy obtained from other plant‐based sources. Agricultural and forested biomass‐based energy is considered an option to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, increase the current share of the nation’s renewable energy, and improve the sustainability of forests and marginal lands. Cellulosic biomass‐based energy or second‐generation fuels, for example, fuels produced from energy grasses or woody biomass, have certain advantages over other energy sources, such as first‐generation fuels like corn ethanol, because they limit competition between agricultural food crops and those destined for fuel production [Hill et al., 2006]. While the development of cellulosic biofuels could result in competition for use of resources, including water, labor, carbon storage, and financial resources, one of the most important issues surrounding bioenergy markets is land use impact [Searchinger and Heimlich, 2015]. There are varied answers to the following question: What is the land use impact of using biomass‐based energy, and how does it change over time? Arable land is a scarce resource that is already under pressure from food agriculture, forestry, industry, urban, and other demands. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the land use change (LUC) associated with increased bioenergy production can negate the potential benefits of production and ultimately degrade the environment. The bioenergy market is largely encouraged on the national/supranational scale by government initiatives; countries with notable biofuel initiatives include the member states of the European Union, the United States, and Brazil. Without taking into account both the economic and environmental factors that surround the bioenergy market, these initiatives can lead to poor land use decisions at the local level [Baker et al., 2010; de Oliveira Bordonal et al., 2015; Vasile et al., 2016].

Economic methods of biomass supply estimation are based on the interplay of demand a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• Part I: Bioenergy and Land Use Change
• Part II: Impacts on Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services
• Part III: Data, Modeling, and Uncertainties
• Index
• End User License Agreement