The Nexus of Biofuels, Climate Change, and Human Health Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
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6 Implications of Biofuels for Land Use and Health
6 Implications of Biofuels for Land Use and Health
Pages 85-100
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From page 85... ...
of the various impacts of biofuels production. For example, he displayed the results of seven studies that looked at the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of ethanol produced from corn (NRC, 2011)
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From page 86... ...
The ethanol industry analyst may be wondering about the average corn ethanol produced in the United States in a given year. And the regulator may be interested in the marginal increase in ethanol production that occurs as a result of a policy, say RFS2 [Renewable Fuel Standard, version 2.0]
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From page 87... ...
Corn ethanol needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent in order to meet the EPA standard, he noted, although he added, "Most of it was grandfathered in, so it is basically an academic question." Still, it is valuable to examine how the EPA reached its determination. Table 6-1 shows the EPA's estimates of the relative greenhouse gas emissions of corn ethanol compared to gasoline.
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From page 88... ...
NOTE: * = meets 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for corn ethanol; + = higher greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline; – = lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.
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From page 89... ...
The exxpectations w will influennce where DOE funds pilot and comm mercializationn facilities, ffor examp ple, and wherre the USDA invests its ddollars in reseearch program ms and hoow the EPA will w institute itts final rule foor different biiofuels.
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From page 90... ...
model from Argonne National Laboratory. One thing to notice from the graph, he said, is that for all the different types of gases, the tailpipe emissions -- labeled as "Use" in the graph -- are pretty much the same no matter whether the fuel is gasoline, corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol from stover, or cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass.
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From page 91... ...
Copyright 20012 Americcan Chemical Society.
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From page 92... ...
The six sections of the figure show the geographic distribution of six different processes: vehicle tailpipe emissions, ethanol plant evaporation and non-combustion, coal mining with non-combustion included, fertilizer nitrification, gasoline refining, and sulfuric acid production. The spatial emission profiles vary according to which fuel is under consideration: gasoline, corn ethanol, or cellulosic biofuel from corn stover.
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From page 93... ...
TThe emissiion of volatille organic compounds andd particulate matter dips on the weeekend, for example, e whiile ammonia emissions juump during tthe spring when plants are being ferttilized most hheavily. It is not enough h to simply look l at whenn and where tthese emissioons occur, Hill said.
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From page 94... ...
Replacing approximately 8 billion gallons of gasoline per year with 7.5 billion gallons of corn ethanol and 5 billion gallons of stover cellulosic ethanol could be expected to lead to an additional 260 deaths per year in the United States, they found. (Ethanol has approximately two-thirds the energy density of gasoline such that the miles that can be driven on 12.5 billion gallons of ethanol is approximately equal to those that can be driven on approximately 8 billion gallons of gasoline.)
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From page 95... ...
The smaller branches and debris -- the "slash" -- can be put into piles that are then formed into log-shaped assemblies using a material similar to chicken wire; these assemblies are called slash logs. But the larger pieces, Cassidy said, will require the development of equipment to collect and package them for transport, and safety will be an important consideration in the design of that equipment since the larger pieces are heavy enough to cause serious injury.
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The smoke from the fires creates both air pollution and greenhouse gases. It would be good for the overstocked forests if some of their trees could be harvested and used in the bio-economy.
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"They are looking at the logistics and engineering plans and safety plans of all the equipment and how we can go out and harvest these wood residues." Cassidy explained that he is working on detail as a senior adviser but is also a National Program Leader with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, "so I'd like to talk a little bit about the opportunities there." The goal at the institute is to develop regionally appropriate biofuels and bio-based product programs, he said, and one way it is approaching this is with the use of CAPs, or coordinated agriculture programs.
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From page 98... ...
The USDA's efforts to develop bio-based products and biofuels cover a spectrum of approaches, from working to develop superior genotypes of energy crops to improving feedstock production practices, developing conversion technologies that can accept a broad range of feedstocks, and working on regional sustainability analyses and decisionmaking tools. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture is currently working with the Agricultural Research Service's National Agricultural Library to develop an open-source, LCA database for the United States so that "all this great information that universities are producing" will be made available to industry so that companies can do a better job of analyzing their options, Cassidy said.
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From page 99... ...
2010. Fuel-specific lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions results.
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From page 100... ...
2011. Renewable fuel standard: Potential economic and environmental effects of U.S.
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