Cellulosic biofuel contributions to a sustainable energy future: Choices and outcomes

Science ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 356 (6345) ◽  
pp. eaal2324 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Philip Robertson ◽  
Stephen K. Hamilton ◽  
Bradford L. Barham ◽  
Bruce E. Dale ◽  
R. Cesar Izaurralde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Loss ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Marginal Lands ◽  
Transportation Energy ◽  
Cellulosic Biofuel ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Cellulosic Bioenergy

Cellulosic crops are projected to provide a large fraction of transportation energy needs by mid-century. However, the anticipated land requirements are substantial, which creates a potential for environmental harm if trade-offs are not sufficiently well understood to create appropriately prescriptive policy. Recent empirical findings show that cellulosic bioenergy concerns related to climate mitigation, biodiversity, reactive nitrogen loss, and crop water use can be addressed with appropriate crop, placement, and management choices. In particular, growing native perennial species on marginal lands not currently farmed provides substantial potential for climate mitigation and other benefits.

scholarly journals Restoring Soil Fertility on Degraded Lands to Meet Food, Fuel, and Climate Security Needs via Perennialization

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Mosier ◽  
S. Carolina Córdova ◽  
G. Philip Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Nutrient Recycling ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Degraded Lands ◽  
Marginal Lands ◽  
Zero Hunger ◽  
Cellulosic Bioenergy

A continuously growing pressure to increase food, fiber, and fuel production to meet worldwide demand and achieve zero hunger has put severe pressure on soil resources. Abandoned, degraded, and marginal lands with significant agricultural constraints—many still used for agricultural production—result from inappropriately intensive management, insufficient attention to soil conservation, and climate change. Continued use for agricultural production will often require ever more external inputs such as fertilizers and herbicides, further exacerbating soil degradation and impeding nutrient recycling and retention. Growing evidence suggests that degraded lands have a large potential for restoration, perhaps most effectively via perennial cropping systems that can simultaneously provide additional ecosystem services. Here we synthesize the advantages of and potentials for using perennial vegetation to restore soil fertility on degraded croplands, by summarizing the principal mechanisms underpinning soil carbon stabilization and nitrogen and phosphorus availability and retention. We illustrate restoration potentials with example systems that deliver climate mitigation (cellulosic bioenergy), animal production (intensive rotational grazing), and biodiversity conservation (natural ecological succession). Perennialization has substantial promise for restoring fertility to degraded croplands, helping to meet future food security needs.

scholarly journals Cellulosic Ethanol Potential of Feedstocks Grown on Marginal Lands

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 1775-1782
Author(s):  
Sun Min Kim ◽  
DoKyoung Lee ◽  
Santanu Thapa ◽  
Bruce S. Dien ◽  
Mike E. Tumbleson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ethanol Production ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Biomass Ash ◽  
Marginal Lands ◽  
Cellulosic Biofuel ◽  
Prairie Cordgrass ◽  
Simultaneous Saccharification And Cofermentation ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Saline Land ◽  
Simultaneous Saccharification

Abstract. To examine the chemical composition and ethanol production of feedstocks grown on marginal lands, prairie cordgrass and switchgrass from waterlogged land, saline land, and saline water irrigated land were evaluated. Samples were pretreated using 1% w w-1 dilute acid at 160°C for 10 min, and simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation was conducted using industrial engineered . Samples grown on land irrigated with saline water had 2.8-fold higher total ash content compared to the other types of land, resulting in lower carbohydrate concentrations. Yeast fermented glucose and xylose simultaneously; almost all of the sugars were consumed, indicating that salts present in biomass ash did not inhibit yeast performance. Ethanol production from the waterlogged and saline lands was 2,500 to 4,700 L ha-1, which is comparable to that of samples grown on other agricultural lands. Prairie cordgrass and switchgrass grown on marginal lands could be potential feedstocks for cellulosic biofuel. Keywords: Irrigation, Marginal land, Prairie cordgrass, Saline, Simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation, Switchgrass, Waterlogging.

scholarly journals Delivering on Biden’s 2030 conservation commitment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Alexander Simmons ◽  
Christoph Nolte ◽  
Jennifer McGowan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Executive Order ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Priority Areas ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractOn January 27, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, committing the United States to various goals within his campaign’s major climate policy, the Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice. Included in this executive order is a commitment to “conserving at least 30 percent of [the United States’] lands and oceans by 2030.” This ambitious conservation target signals a promising direction for biodiversity in the United States. However, while the executive order outlines several goals for climate mitigation, the ‘30×30’ target remains vague in its objectives, actions, and implementation strategies for protecting biodiversity. Biodiversity urgently needs effective conservation action, but it remains unclear where and what this 30% target will be applied to. Achieving different climate and biodiversity objectives will require different strategies and, in combination with the associated costs of implementation, will lead to different priority areas for conservation actions. Here, we illustrate what the 30% target could look like across four objectives reflective of the ambitious goals outlined in the executive order. We compile several variations of terrestrial protected area networks guided by these different objectives and examine the trade-offs in costs, ecosystem representation, and climate mitigation potential between each. We find little congruence in priority areas across objectives, emphasizing just how crucial it will be for the Biden administration to develop clear objectives and establish appropriate performance metrics from the outset to maximize both conservation and climate outcomes in support of the 30×30 target. We discuss important considerations that must guide the administration’s conservation strategies in order to ensure meaningful conservation outcomes can be achieved over the next decade.

scholarly journals Potensi Pengembangan Kemiri Sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw)di Lahan Terdegradasi

Perspektif ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIBYO PRANOWO ◽  
MAMAN HERMAN ◽  
. SYAFARUDDIN
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Degraded Land ◽  
Marginal Lands ◽  
Productivity Level ◽  
Oil Crops ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Alternative Sources

<p>ABSTRAK<br /><br />Kemiri sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw) merupakan salah satu jenis tanaman penghasil minyak nabati yang memiliki potensi besar sebagai sumber bahan baku untuk biodiesel. Tingkat produktivitas yang dapat mencapai 8-9 ton minyak kasar atau setara dengan 6-8 ton biodiesel/ha/tahun memiliki nilai strategis terkait dengan program pemerintah dalam mencari alternatif sumber energi baru yang terbarukan. Pengembangan sumber energi terbarukan seperti yang berasal dari minyak nabati kemiri sunan merupakan salah satu alternatif dalam upaya memenuhi defisit energi untuk keperluan domestik sehingga Indonesia dapat keluar dari himpitan krisis energi. Lahan-lahan yang telah terdegradasi di Indonesia dari tahun ke tahun luasnya semakin bertambah baik karena faktor alam maupun karena eksploitasi yang tidak terkendali. Disisi lain pengembangan tanaman sumber BBN terkendala karena keterbatasan lahan. Kajian yang telah dilakukan secara intensif terhadap karakteristik tanaman, minyak dan biodiesel yang dihasilkannya, serta daya adaptasinya yang sangat luas terhadap beragam agroekosistem yang ada di Indonesia, tanaman kemiri sunan memberikan harapan yang baik disamping sebagai sumber bahan baku biodiesel, juga dapat berfungsi sebagai tanaman konservasi untuk mereklamasi lahan-lahan marginal yang telah terdegradasi. Disamping itu, pengembangan tanaman kemiri sunan di lahan yang telah terdegradasi tidak hanya akan dapat meningkatkan nilai ekonomi lahan tersebut, tetapi juga dapat dijadikan tanaman yang bernilai ekonomi tinggi, serta mampu menyediakan kebutuhan energi bagi masyarakat sekitar maupun ke wilayah yang lebih luas. <br />Kata kunci: Kemiri sunan, biodiesel, energi baru terbarukan, lahan terdegradasi, lahan bekas tambang.<br /><br />ABSTRACT</p><p>The Multiple Benefits of Developing Kemiri Sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw) In Degraded Land<br /><br />Kemiri sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw) is one kind of vegetable oil crops that have great potential as a source of raw material for biodiesel. The productivity level that can reach 8-9 tons of crude oil, equivalent to 6-8 tons of biodiesel/ha/year make as a strategic commodity associated with government programs to find alternative sources of renewable energy. Development of renewable energy such as from vegetable oils of kemiri sunan is one of the alternatives in an effort to solve the deficit of energy for domestic use so that Indonesia can way out of the crush of the energy crisis. Lands that have been degraded in Indonesia continuously increasing both cause of the extent of natural factors and uncontrolled exploitation. On the other hand the development of this plants retricted by aviability of land. The research88 Volume 14 Nomor 2, Des 2015 : 87 - 101 studies have been conducted on the characteristics of plants, oil and biodiesel production, and adaptability in very broadly of Indonesian agro-ecosystem, this plant show well hopes besides as a source of raw material for biodiesel, it can also function as a conservation plant to reclaim marginal lands that have been degraded. In addition, the development of kemiri sunan on degraded land will not only be able to increase the economic value of the land, but also can be used as crops of high economic value, and able to provide for the energy needs of the surrounding communities and to the wider region.<br />Keywords: Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw, biodiesel, renewable energy, degraded land, post mained land.</p>

scholarly journals Treatment of International Economic Trade in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 155-165
Author(s):  
Jackie Dawson ◽  
Jean Holloway ◽  
Nathan Debortoli ◽  
Elisabeth Gilmore
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract Purpose of the Review Climate change presents significant risks to the international trade and supply chain systems with potentially profound and cascading effects for the global economy. A robust international trade system may also be central to managing future climate risks. Here, we assess the treatment (or lack thereof) of trade in a selection of recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment and special reports using a quantitative text analysis. IPCC reports are considered the preeminent source of relevant climate change information and underpin international climate change negotiations. Study Findings Results show that international trade has not had substantial coverage in recent IPCC assessments. Relevant keywords associated with trade appear in very limited ways, generally in relation to the words “product” and “transport.” These keywords are often referring to emissions associated with transportation and the movement of food and global food systems. The influence of trade is given larger consideration with respect to the costs and trade-offs of climate mitigation policies, especially the interactions with food availability, that appear in Working Group III reports compared with the risks to trade from climate change impacts in Working Group II. Trade in relation to other economic sectors is largely absent as well as risks from potential climate-related trade disruption. There is almost no treatment of the potential impacts, risks, and adaptation strategies to manage the climate related-implications for international trade. Recommendations Given the importance of trade to economic growth, we recommend that additional attention be paid to trade and related economic issues in future IPCC assessment and special reports, specifically on the interactions of climate impacts and risks on trade and the potential for trade to moderate these risks. To achieve this, there must be efforts to increase the base of scientific literature focused on climate change and international trade as well as increased effort made among IPCC lead authors to review trade literature that may lie outside conventional climate change scholarship.

Evaluation of Cradle to Grave Impacts From Potential Automotive Fuel Replacements: An Update

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Curtiss ◽  
Jan F. Kreider
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Transportation Energy ◽  
Compressed Natural Gas ◽  
The Past ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
The Us ◽  
Source Data

In modern society, everything from transportation to commerce to food supply is heavily dependent on the availability of cheap and plentiful energy supplies. In the past few years many have realized that the traditional sources of energy — oil and gas — are in limited supply and that we need to prepare for the approaching production maxima. Recent research has focused on alternative forms of transportation energy including biofuels, unconventional refining techniques, and heavy oil and bitumen. This report is a continuation of earlier research and now considers ethanol produced from municipal solid waste, ethanol from algae, and compressed natural gas. The data presented are maintained in the same format as previous studies to facilitate comparison between the fuels. Results are reported for land use, water use, input-to-output energy ratio, and carbon emissions for each fuel cycle and source. Data are given for the cases of 10, 25, and 50 percent displacements of the 2012 predicted transportation energy needs (i.e., the equivalent of 430 million gallons of gasoline per day). Cradle-to-grave findings indicate that some novel fuels cannot substitute for conventional fuels without consuming more water or land and emitting more greenhouse gases than fuels in use today. The life cycle analysis approach presented here is that which should be used as the US moves toward low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) and carbon cap and trade (CC&T) approaches for reducing carbon loading of the environment.

scholarly journals Environmental co-benefits and trade-offs of climate mitigation strategies applied to net-zero-emission neighbourhoods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carine Lausselet ◽  
Helge Brattebø
Keyword(s):  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Passenger Cars ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Zero Emission ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Main purpose To limit global warming at a safe level of 1.5 °C, deep emission reductions in all sectors combined with rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society are required. The ongoing climate urgency has led to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be the most often inventoried life-cycle indicators. But, to draw comprehensive climate mitigation strategies (CMS), adverse potential environmental side-effects and trade-offs should be assessed as well. Methods LCA is used to assess the potential environmental co-benefits and trade-offs of a net-zero-emission neighbourhood (nZEN) in the early planning stages. CMS are designed to test for the effect of (1) mobility patterns less based on the use of passenger cars, (2) a better material use by decreasing the size of the dwellings and increasing the passenger loads, (3) increased lifetimes of buildings and passenger cars, and (4) their combination. Results Across the impact categories, environmental benefits of 5–20% are shown for single CMS and of 22–42% when combined. Interestingly, the highest environmental co-benefits are found for Metal Depletion, highlighting the close interconnection of CMS and decreased pressure on resource use. The use of several climate metrics has shed light on the use of fossil fuels in the production value chains of the materials used to provide the mobility services and shelters to the inhabitants of the nZEN under study. A combination of climate metrics with short- and long-time horizon should be used to give the importance that short-lived GHG such as methane deserve in the climate debate. Conclusion To best mitigate climate change along with environmental co-benefits on a nZEN level, measures should be taken at different points in time. At the early planning stages, incentives should be in place that promote dwellings of reasonable sizes (measured per inhabitant) along with incentives to decarbonize the materials value chains, in- and out-land. Over time, a culture of car- and ride-sharing will have positive environmental benefits. When renovating, incentives that promote the reshaping of dwellings into dwellings of smaller sizes will help to shift the sole focus on nZEB standards to multi-layers strategies.

scholarly journals Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: Promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Barquet ◽  
Elin Leander ◽  
Jonathan Green ◽  
Heidi Tuhkanen ◽  
Vincent Omondi Odongo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Promise ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Potential Risks

Human activity has modified and deteriorated natural ecosystems in ways that reduce resilience and exacerbate environmental and climate problems. Physical measures to protect, manage and restore these ecosystems that also address societal challenges in sustainable ways and bring biodiversity benefits are sometimes referred to as “nature-based solutions” (NBS). For example, reducing deforestation and restoring forests is a major opportunity for climate mitigation, while protecting or restoring coastal habitats can mitigate damage to coastal areas from natural hazard events, in addition to potentially providing co-benefits related to livelihood, recreation, and biodiversity. There is now an impetus to shift towards greater deployment of nature-based solutions. Not only do they offer an alternative to conventional fossil fuel-based or hard infrastructure solutions but, if implemented correctly, they also hold great promise for achieving multiple goals, benefits and synergies. These include climate mitigation and resilience; nature and biodiversity protection; and economic and social gains. 2020 saw an explosion in publications about NBS, which have contributed to filling many of the knowledge gaps that existed around their effectiveness and factors for their success. These publications have also highlighted the knowledge gaps that remain and have revealed a lack of critical reflection on the social and economic sustainability aspects of NBS. Building on these gaps, we decided to launch this mini-series of four briefs to provoke a more nuanced discussion that highlights not only the potential benefits, but also the potential risks and trade-offs of NBS. The purpose is not to downplay the importance of NBS for biodiversity, ecosystems, and coastal mitigation and adaptation, but to ensure that we establish a dialogue about ways to overcome these challenges while leaving no one behind.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document