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An Acre for An Acre? Implementing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard

USDA REE Energy Summit. An Acre for An Acre? Implementing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Robert C. Brown Bioeconomy Institute Department of Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University Ames, IA. Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit January 27, 2009.

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An Acre for An Acre? Implementing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard

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  1. USDA REE Energy Summit An Acre for An Acre? Implementing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard Robert C. Brown Bioeconomy Institute Department of Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University Ames, IA Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit January 27, 2009

  2. Concerns about global climate change will soon drive energy and land use policies

  3. Let’s not forget why we are producing biofuels

  4. USDA REE Energy Summit Bad press for biofuels Thursday, Mar. 27, 2008 The Clean Energy Scam By Michael Grunwald Saturday, 27 October 2007 Biofuels 'crime against humanity' By Grant Ferrett Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Texas governor trying to slash ethanol production By Suzanne Gamboa

  5. Political Challenges for Biofuels • Food vs. fuel debate • Proposals to include indirect land use change in low carbon fuel standards Food not FUEL LCFS iLUC

  6. Food vs. Fuel: What drives food prices? Ethanol production is just one of seven sources of commodity price inflation, Scott Faber of the Grocers Manufacturers Association said. The rise in global demand, energy prices, speculation, the weak dollar export restrictions and poor weather also contributed to the surge in corn prices ..... Lee, D. J., With corn prices in retreat, fuel vs. food debate loses heat, AP, Jan 11, 2009

  7. Crime Against Humanity? Source: Brown (2009)

  8. Brief History of iLUC Legislation • January 12, 20007: EIASA introduced in the House as HR6.IH. • No requirement iLUC in calculating life-cycle GHG emissions. • May 2007: Senate version of EIASA introduced as S.1419. • No requirement for iLUC in calculating life-cycle GHG emissions . • October 2007: Pelosi announces that the House and Senate will reconcile their separate versions of EIASA. • Declared that this would be accomplished through informal meetings rather than the traditional committee process. • December 6, 2007: New version of EIASA introduced and passed in the House as HR6.EAH. • The term ‘lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions’ means the aggregate quantity of greenhouse gas emissions (including direct emissions and indirect emissions such as significant emissions from land use changes). • December 17, 2007: House & Senate pass a revised version of HR6.EAH. • Removed a provision for a tax increase but retained the iLUC clause. • February 7, 2008: Searchinger and Fargione publish papers in Science claiming iLUC makes biofuels worse GHG emitters than gasoline

  9. iLUC comes to Washington • October 18, 2007: The Climate Security Act of 2007 introduced to the Senate on by Senators Lieberman (I) and Warner (R). • Original bill contained no reference to ILUC • Returned from the Committee on Environment and Public Works with the following amendment: (i) IN GENERAL- The term `lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions' means, with respect to a transportation fuel, the aggregate quantity of greenhouse gases emitted per British thermal unit of fuel, as determined by the Administrator, from production through use of the fuel, as calculated to ensure that any nonrecurring emission is not amortized over a period of more than 20 years to ensure that required improvements in greenhouse gas emissions occur within that period. (ii) INCLUSIONS- The term `lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions' includes emissions associated with-- (I) feedstock production (including direct and indirect land-use changes) or extraction; (II) feedstock refining; (III) distribution of a fuel; and (IV) use of a fuel. 

  10. iLUC comes to Washington • Committee on Environment and Public Works approved the amendment by a vote of 11-8, with Sen. Warner crossing party lines to vote with the Democrats in favor of the amendment.

  11. USDA REE Energy Summit Will the bioeconomy hurt or help people in developing countries?

  12. USDA REE Energy Summit View 1: The Bioeconomy will hurt the developing world • Competition for land will increase food prices and contribute to world hunger, AND • Farmers in the developing world will burn down the rain forests to replace lost food imports, causing net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Searchinger 2008

  13. USDA REE Energy Summit View 2: The Bioeconomy will help the developing world • Farming will become profitable in the developing world, AND • Farmers will adopt practices that improve both crop yields and environmental services, including sequestering carbon in croplands. United States corn grain yields (1900-2005). (National Agricultural Statistics Service [NASS]) *Searchinger (2008) **International Food Policy Institute Photo credit: Asian Development Bank

  14. USDA REE Energy Summit Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? Source: http://images.wri.org/sdm-gene-02-deforestation.jpg

  15. USDA REE Energy Summit Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? Sources: Deforestation data from FAO and INPE-Brazil; Commodity prices from Index Mundi.

  16. USDA REE Energy Summit Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? Sources: Deforestation data from FAO and INPE-Brazil; Commodity prices from Index Mundi.

  17. Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? Sources: Deforestation data from FAO and INPE-Brazil; Commodity prices from Index Mundi.

  18. USDA REE Energy Summit Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? Regardless of how many acres of lost rainforest are ultimately attributable to biofuels agriculture, it is already evident that deforestation is not driven by biofuels production.  Whereas the world has lost 500 million acres of rain forest in the last ten years, the U.S. biofuels industry has diverted less than 20 million acres to ethanol production. Something else is responsible for the epidemic of deforestation. Brown, R. C. (2008) Evidence debunks criticisms of ethanol, Op-Ed Piece, Des Moines Register, Nov. 13.

  19. USDA REE Energy Summit Is Biofuel Agriculture Driving Brazilian Rainforest Deforestation? …field research…consistently finds that land-use change and associated carbon emissions are driven by interactions among cultural, technological, biophysical, political, economic, and demographic forces within a spatial and temporal context rather than by a single crop market. Kline, K. L. and Dale, V. H. (2008) Biofuels: Effects on land and fire; Letter to the editor, Science 321, 199.

  20. USDA REE Energy Summit Does Biofuel Agriculture Exacerbate Global Climate Change? -- Crop management is a key factor in determining GHG emissions from land use change -- No-till agriculture reduces carbon debt from converting grassland and temperate forests to 4 and 20 years, respectively. -- No-till with cover crop agriculture can create a carbon sink, resulting in higher soil organic carbon levels than natural ecosystems. Kim, H., Kim, S., and Dale, B. E. (2009) Biofuels, Land Use Change, and Green-house Gas Emissions: Some Unexplored Variables, Environ. Sci. & Technol. DOI: 10.1021/es802681k

  21. C02 Alternative to LCFS: Carbon burden (CB) applied to all economic activity CB CB CB CB Carbon CB CB CB CB CB CB Carbon Source: Brown (2009)

  22. USDA REE Energy Summit We must learn to provide both food and fuel from solar energy… in a sustainable manner. Biofuels as Solar Energy Brown, expected release March 2009

  23. USDA REE Energy Summit How does ethanol measure up? Source: Adapted from Simpson, A. G. (2005) Full-cycle assessment of alternative fuels for light-duty road vehicles in Australia, The University of Queensland, Australia.

  24. USDA REE Energy Summit How does ethanol measure up? Source: Adapted from Simpson, A. G. (2005) Full-cycle assessment of alternative fuels for light-duty road vehicles in Australia, The University of Queensland, Australia.

  25. So why not focus on the battery electric vehicle? Reason No. 1: Show me the battery Liquid fuel data from Brown, R. C. (2002) Biorenewable Resources, Blackwell Publishing Battery data from http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Battery-Energy.html CNG data from http://www.mckenziecorp.com/dehydration.htm

  26. So why not focus on the battery electric vehicle? Reason No. 2: Let’s get serious about Life Cycle Analysis Sources: Adapted from Simpson, A. G. (2005) Full-cycle assessment of alternative fuels for light-duty road vehicles in Australia, The University of Queensland, Australia; LC data from Rydh, C. J. and Sandén, B. A. (2005) Energy analysis of batteries in photovoltaic systems. Part I: Performance and energy requirements, Energy Conversion and Management 46, 1957-1979.

  27. USDA REE Energy Summit Concluding Wish I hope the biofuels community is more civil and less inflammatory than its critics “Ethanol as a biofuel - immoral, costly and stupid. ..The main victims will be the poor...” Ron Leng, Science Alert 07 January 2009 (as reported in Biofuels Digest)

  28. Acknowledgement Iowa State University BIOECONOMY INSTITUTE www.biorenew.iastate.edu

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