Biofuels in Perspective

2009

2009

We examined four evolution paths of the biofuel sector using a partial equilibrium world agricultural sector model in CARD that includes the new RFS in the 2007 EISA, a two-way relationship between fossil energy and biofuel markets, and a new trend toward corn oil extraction in ethanol plants. At one extreme, one scenario eliminates all support to the biofuel sector when the energy price is low, while the other extreme assumes no distribution bottleneck in ethanol demand growth when the energy price is high. The third scenario ...

2015

Global energy demand is increasing and known global petroleum supplies are decreasing. In 2005 the U.S. consumed 20.8M barrels/day of petroleum, 60 % of which was supplied by oil imports. Almost half of the imported oil comes from parts of the world where an unstable political environment increases future supply risk. Alternative sources of liquid fuel will be required to provide U.S. energy security and to protect environmental quality and economic vitality. Biofuels have been heralded as a renewable, cost effective alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels. Although a corn-

Foundations and Trends® in Microeconomics, 2007

Energy, 2011

Rapidly growing fossil energy consumption in the transport sector in the last two centuries caused problems such as increasing greenhouse gas emissions, growing energy dependency and supply insecurity. One approach to solve these problems could be to increase the use of biofuels. Preferred feedstocks for current 1st generation biofuels production are corn, wheat, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and sunflowers. The major problem is that these feedstocks are also used for food and feed production. The core objective of this paper is to investigate whether the recent increase of biofuels production had a significant impact on the development of agricultural commodity (feedstock) prices. The most important impact factors like biofuels production, land use, yields, feedstock and crude oil prices are analysed. The major conclusions of this analysis are: In recent years the share of bioenergy-based fuels has increased moderately, but continuously, and so did feedstock production, as well as yields. So far, no significant impact of biofuels production on feedstock prices can be observed. Hence, a coexistence of biofuel and food production seems possible especially for 2nd generation biofuels. However, sustainability criteria should be seriously considered. But even if all crops, forests and grasslands currently not used were used for biofuels production it would be impossible to substitute all fossil fuels used today in transport.

2007

This paper evaluates the impact of the current biofuels boom on world food markets. We begin with an analysis of the origins of the recent bio-fuel boom -from a US perspective. We conclude this section by predicting a slowing of the ethanol boom in the US, as production satiates the high-value demand for ethanol as an additive so that future growth hinges of its ability to substitute for petroleum products on an energy equivalent basis. This transition is reflected in the elimination of the price premium for ethanol, the price of which has dropped sharply in recent months. This, combined with higher corn prices, has served to curtail most plans for new ethanol capacity -at least for the present.

Trends in Biotechnology, 2016

2011

The recent discovery of the genome and DNA, combined with con­ cerns about reliance on nonre­ newable energy sources and climate change, have led to efforts to intro­ duce alternative industrial processes that rely on biological processes and renewable resources. These emerg­ ing industries are sometimes referred to as the “bioeconomy” and include biofuels, biotechnology, and greenchemistry industries. The bioeconomy is expanding the range of activities that are pursued by agriculture to include the production of feedstock for energy and chemical production, in addition to the production of foods, feeds, and fiber. This paper provides an overview of recent research findings on the eco­ nomics of biofuel and its relationship to the food sector and the environment. The biofuel industry is probably the most obvious sector of the bio­ economy. It is producing ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil, from corn in the United States, and from cassava and sugar beets in Thailand and Europe. It is ...

2008