Water impacts of U.S. biofuels: Insights from an assessment combining economic and biophysical models
| Autor: | Madhu Khanna, Jacob Teter, Sonia Yeh, Göran Berndes |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Corn ethanol
Agricultural Irrigation Natural resource economics Social Sciences lcsh:Medicine 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Natural Resources Agricultural Soil Science Land Use 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Bioenergy lcsh:Science Multidisciplinary Geography Eukaryota Agriculture Plants Agricultural Methods Models Economic Policy Experimental Organism Systems Cellulosic ethanol Biofuel Physical Sciences Water Resources Engineering and Technology Mandate Research Article Crops Agricultural 020209 energy Materials Science Soil Science Crops Fuels Research and Analysis Methods Human Geography Biophysical Phenomena Model Organisms Water Supply Plant and Algal Models Animals Grasses Agricultural productivity Cellulose Materials by Attribute 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Land use Ecology and Environmental Sciences lcsh:R Organisms Biology and Life Sciences Maize Energy and Power Water resources Biofuels Earth Sciences Environmental science lcsh:Q Surface runoff Crop Science Cereal Crops |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 9, p e0204298 (2018) PLoS ONE |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0204298 |
| Popis: | Biofuels policies induce land use changes (LUC), including cropland expansion and crop switching, and this in turn alters water and soil management practices. Policies differ in the extent and type of land use changes they induce and therefore in their impact on water resources. We quantify and compare the spatially varying water impacts of biofuel crops stemming from LUC induced by two different biofuels policies by coupling a biophysical model with an economic model to simulate the economically viable mix of crops, land uses, and crop management choices under alternative policy scenarios. We assess the outputs of an economic model with a high-resolution crop-water model for major agricultural crops and potential cellulosic feedstocks in the US to analyze the impacts of three alternative policy scenarios on water balances: a counterfactual ‘no-biofuels policy’ (BAU) scenario, a volumetric mandate (Mandate) scenario, and a clean fuel-intensity standard (CFS) scenario incentivizing fuels based on their carbon intensities. While both biofuel policies incentivize more biofuels than in the counterfactual, they differ in the mix of corn ethanol and advanced biofuels from miscanthus and switchgrass (more corn ethanol in Mandate and more cellulosic biofuels in CFS). The two policies differ in their impact on irrigated acreage, irrigation demand, groundwater use and runoff. Net irrigation requirements increase 0.7% in Mandate and decrease 3.8% in CFS, but in both scenarios increases are concentrated in regions of Kansas and Nebraska that rely upon the Ogallala aquifer for irrigation water. Our study illustrates the importance of accounting for the overall LUC and shifts in agricultural production and management practices in response to policies when assessing the water impacts of biofuels. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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