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Economics of Bioenergy Crops for Electricity Generation: Implications for Land Use and Greenhouse Gases

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Dynamics, Games and Science II

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics ((PROM,volume 2))

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Abstract

This paper develops a dynamic linear optimization framework to examine the optimal land allocation for two perennial crops, switchgrass and miscanthus, that can be co-fired with coal for electricity generation. Detailed spatial data at county level is used to determine the heterogeneous costs of producing and delivering biomass to power plants in Illinois over a 15-year period. A transportation module is incorporated in the model to link power plants to perennial crop growing areas such that power plants obtain their biomass input from the cheapest sources. A supply curve for bioenergy is thereby generated and the implications of various levels of production for farm income, subsidy payments and for the environment are analyzed. The environmental benefit in the form of reduced carbon-dioxide emissions from co-firing biomass with coal are determined by conducting a lifecycle analysis of carbon-dioxide emissions from electricity generated by co-firing bioenergy crops as compared to that generated from coal only. The lifecycle analysis includes the soil carbon sequestered by perennial grasses and the carbon emissions displaced by these grasses due to both conversion of land from row crops and co-firing the grasses with coal. Spatial variability in land use and in soil carbon sequestration potential of land use choices, and their policy implications are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Madhu Khanna, Hayri Onal & Basanta Dhungana

  2. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Michelle Wander

Authors
  1. Madhu Khanna
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  2. Hayri Onal
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  3. Basanta Dhungana
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  4. Michelle Wander
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Correspondence to Madhu Khanna .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pura e Aplicada (IMPA), Instituto de Matemática, Estrada Dona Castorina 110, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Mauricio Matos Peixoto

  2. Faculdade de Ciências, Departamento de Matemática, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, Porto, 4169-007, Portugal

    Alberto Adrego Pinto

  3. Warwick Systems Biology, University of Warwick, Coventry House, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom

    David A. Rand

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Khanna, M., Onal, H., Dhungana, B., Wander, M. (2011). Economics of Bioenergy Crops for Electricity Generation: Implications for Land Use and Greenhouse Gases. In: Peixoto, M., Pinto, A., Rand, D. (eds) Dynamics, Games and Science II. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14788-3_35

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