Handbook of bioenergy economics and policy

Concerns about energy security, uncertainty about oil prices, declining oil reserves, and global climate change are fueling a shift towards bioenergy as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Public policies and private investmentsaround the globe are aiming to increase local capacity to produce biofuels. Akey constraint to the expansion of biofuel production is the limited amount of land available to meet the needs for fuel, feed, and food in the coming decades. Large-scale biofuel production raises concerns about food versus fuel tradeoffs, about demands for natural resources such as water, and about potentialimpacts on environmental quality. The book is organized into five parts. The introductory part provides a context for the emerging economic and policy challenges related to bioenergy and the motivations for biofuels as an energy source. The second part of the handbook includes chapters that examine the implications of expanded production of first generation biofuels for the allocation of land between food and fuel and for food/feed prices and trade in biofuels aswell as the potential for technology improvements to mitigate the food vs. fuel competition for land. Chapters in the third part examine the infrastructural and logistical challenges posed by large scale biofuel production and the factors that will influence the location of biorefineries and the mix of feedstocks they use. The fourth part includes chapters that examine the environmentalimplications of biofuels, their implications for the design of policies and the unintended environmental consequences of existing biofuel policies. The final part presents economic analysis of the market, social welfare, and distributional effects of biofuel policies. Presents the latest research on the economics of land allocation between food and fuel and the current state of knowledge about feedstocks and technology Examines bioenergy from a global perspectiveDiscusses the impact of bioenergy production on international trade and the environment Puts forward the welfare and environmental effects of alternative policy interventions to support biofuel production Offers not only fresh empirical research on controversial issues, but provides implications for industry and policy INDICE: The Economics Of Bioenergy: Introduction And Overview.- Perennial Grass As Second-Generation Sustainable Feedstocks Without Conflict With Food Production.- Present and Future Possibilities for Deconstruction and Utilization of Lignocellulosic Biomass.-Biofuels in the Context of Renewable Energy.- The Welfare Economics of Biofuel Tax Credits and Mandates.- Market and Social Welfare Effects of the Renewable Fuels Standard.- Welfare and Equity Implications of Biofuel’s Emergence.- The Political Economy of Bioenergy: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why.- Prospects for Ethanol and Biodiesel, 2008 to 2017 and Impacts on Agriculture and Food.- Demand Behavior and Commodity Price Volatility underEvolving Biofuel Markets and Policies.- Biofuels, Policy Options, and Their Implications: Analyses Using Partial and General Equilibrium Approaches.- Meeting Biofuel Targets: Implications for Land Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Nitrogen Use in Illinois.- The Economics of Trade, Biofuel, and the Environment.- Modeling Different Land Qualities in the Production of Food and Clean Energy.- The Global Bioenergy Expansion: How Large Are the Food-Fuel Tradeoffs?- Policy, Trade and Biofuels in Importing Regions.- Biofuels and Agricultural Growth: Challenges for Developing Agricultural Economies and Opportunities for Investment.- European Union Biofuel Policy: Are We Heading in the Right Direction?- Incorporating price responsiveness into environmental lifecycle assessment.-US-Brazil Trade in Biofuels: Determinants, Constraints and Implications for Trade Policy.- Corn Stover Harvesting: Potential Supply and Water Quality Implications.- Can Biofuels be Used to Harvest the Greenhouse: An Economic Investigation of Biofuels and Climate Change.- Biofuel Infrastructure and Life Cycle.

• ISBN: 978-1-4419-0368-6
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 450
• Fecha Publicación: 12/08/2009
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés