Abstract
A Thunen land use model exploits well-known characteristics of biomass energy sources and development. A model is developed which determines the competitive location of a large-scale production facility devoted to biomass feedstock reduction and conversion to an alcohol fuel. It takes account of on-plantation feedstock assembly costs, delivery of processed fuel to sales point and competition from other land uses, while permitting land costs to be determined endogenously. Higher densities of feedstock cultivation are more profitable farther from final markets for the fuel. Larger plantations have higher feedstock costs; hiqher transport rates on converted fuel lower feedstock costs.
Research sponsored by the Biomass Energy Technology Division, U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract DE-AC05-840-R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barnard, J.R. 1983. Gasohol/ethanol: A review of national and regional policy and feasibility issues. Regional Science Perspectives 13: 3–14.
Bauer, P.T. 1948. The rubber industry; a study in competition and monopoly. London: London School of Economics.
Dobie, J.B., Miller, Jr., G.E. and Parsons, P.S. 1977. Management of rice straw for utilization. American Society of Agricultural Engineers Technical Paper 77–1047.
Felker, P. 1984. Economic, environmental, and social advantages of intensively managed short rotation mesquite (Prosopsis spp) Biomass. Biomass 5: 65–77.
Hertzmark, D., Flaim, S., Ray, D. and Parvin, G. 1980. Economic feasibility of agricultural alcohol production within a biomass system. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 62: 965–71.
Hitzhusen, F.J. and Abdallah, M. 1980. Economics of electrical energy from crop residue combustion with high sulfur coal. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 62: 416–25.
Howlett, K. and Gamache, A. 1977. Silvicultural biomass farms: forest and mill residues as potential sources of biomass. Mitre Corporation Report TR-7347, Vol. III.
Jones, D.W. 1983. Location, agricultural risk, and farm income diversification. Geographical Analysis 15: 231–46.
Jones, D.W 1984a. A land use model with a constant-utility spatially variant wage. Geographical Analysis 16: 121–33.
Jones, D.W. 1984b. Nonland factor markets in the Thunen model. Papers of the Regional Science Association 55: forthcoming.
Jones, D.W, and Krummel, J.R. 1984. The locational theory of the plan tation. Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
McCollum, M.P. and Hughes, C.M. 1983. An equation for predicting harvesting costs on second-growth southern yellow pine sites in the midsouth. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 7: 89–92.
Medema, E.L., Hatch, C.R. and Christophersen, K.A. 1981. Investment analyses of fuelwood plantations in Sri Lanka. Forest, Wildlife and Range Experiment Station, University of Idaho, Contribution No. 221.
Meekhof, R.L., Tyner, W.E. and Holland, F.D. 1980. U.S. agricultural policy and gasohol: a policy simulation. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 62: 408–15.
Newbery, D.M.G. and Stiglitz, J.E. 1981. The theory of commodity price stabilization; a study in the economics of risk. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States 1980. Energy from Biological Processes. Washington, D.C.
Overend, R.P. 1982. The average haul distance and transportation work factors for biomass delivered to a central plant. Biomass 2: 75–79.
Perlack, R., Barron, W., Samuels, G. and Rhinelander, E. 1984. A study of the costs of fuel supply for wood-fired electric power plants in rural Liberia. (draft mimeo) Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory and National Energy Committee, Government of Liberia.
Ranney, J.W. and Cushman, J.H. 1980. Regional evaluation of woody biomass production for fuels in the southeast. In Biotechnology and Bioengineering Symposium No. 10, pp. 109–20. New York: Wiley.
Solomon, B.D. 1980. Gasohol, economics, and passenger transportation policy. Transportation Journal 20: 67–64.
Spiewak, I., Nichols, J.P., Alvic, D. Delene, J.G., Fitzgerald, B.H., Hightower, J.R., Klepper, O.H., Krummel, J.R. and Mills, J.B. 1982. Technical Analysis of the use of Biomass for Energy Production. 0RNL/TM-7919. Engineering Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Stryker, J.D. 1976. Population density, agricultural technique, and land utilization in a village economy. American Economic Review 66: 347–58.
Tyner, W.E, and Bottum, J.C. 1979. Agricultural energy production: economic and policy issues. Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 240.
Wood, B.W., Carpenter, S.B. and Witter, R.F. 1976. Intensive culture of American sycamore in the Ohio River Valley. Forest Science 22: 338–42.
Wrisz, P.B. and Marshall, J.F. 1980. Fuels from Biomass: A Critical Analysis of Technology and Economics. Mobil Research and Development Corporation — Central Research Division.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jones, D.W., Krummel, J.R. (1985). Location and the Development of Energy Supplies from Biomass Sources. In: Calzonetti, F.J., Solomon, B.D. (eds) Geographical Dimensions of Energy. The GeoJournal Library, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5416-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5416-8_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8890-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5416-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive