1 / 36

The Bioeconomy Soc 325 March 5, 2009

The Bioeconomy Soc 325 March 5, 2009. Carmen Bain, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Sociology 308 East Hall Tel: (515) 294-9895; Email: cbain@iastate.edu. Introduction. The Bioeconomy

meena
Download Presentation

The Bioeconomy Soc 325 March 5, 2009

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Bioeconomy Soc 325 March 5, 2009 Carmen Bain, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Sociology308 East HallTel: (515) 294-9895; Email: cbain@iastate.edu

  2. Introduction The Bioeconomy • Economic activity based on creating products from renewable materials grown in farm fields, coastal waters, or managed forests • Corn Ethanol Green gold?

  3. Introduction Biofuels have the potential to “reduce foreign oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions and provide meaningful economic opportunity across this country, putting America firmly on a path toward greater energy stability and sustainability.” (Renewable Fuels Association)

  4. Introduction Biofuels have the potential to “transform agriculture more profoundly than any development since the green revolution” and help resolve some of the world’s most intractable problems related to energy.” (Worldwatch Institute, 2006: xix)

  5. Introduction Objectives • Understand development of ethanol industry • Claims made by proponents • Claims made by critics • Examine 3 environmental controversies • Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) • The “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico • Deforestation

  6. Definitions • Biomass: umbrella term for plant or animal materials • Biofuels: gas/liquid fuels from biomass • Ethanol: corn, sugarcane • Biodiesel: vegetable oils & animal fats • Feedstocks: raw materials processed into other products • Cellulosic: plant carbohydrate. Convert cellulose from plants like switchgrass, corn stover

  7. Why Ethanol? Why Now? • 1896 Henry Ford – alcohol; Rudolf Diesel – peanut oil • Petroleum proved cheaper and more energy efficient • Efforts to find petroleum alternatives oscillate with price of oil • 1970s oil crisis • 2000-2008 oil prices quadrupled • Expected to remain high due to strong demand-side factors

  8. USDA Long-term Projections, Feb 2009

  9. Developing the Ethanol Industry Political support critical • 2003 CA replaced MTBE with ethanol • Energy Policy Act (2005) • Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) • Motor fuels must be blended with biofuels • 2007 = 4.7 billion gallons (bg) • Energy Independence & Security Act (2007) • 2015 = 15 bg corn ethanol • 2022 = 36 bg (15 bg ethanol)

  10. Developing the Ethanol Industry Subsidies, tariffs, tax credits… • 51c (now 45c) per gallon subsidy for gasoline blended with ethanol • 54c per gallon import tariff on foreign ethanol • USDA & DOE investing millions in research, outreach, education

  11. The Claims Proponents argue • Deliver energy independence • Revitalize rural communities • Biomass production & biofuel refineries • New source of farm & community income, employment, investment

  12. The Claims • Curtail global warming • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) • Biofuels & gasoline produce CO2 • Biomass (i.e. corn) absorb CO2 while growing • Net reduction in GHG

  13. Developing the Ethanol Industry • Today, US world leader in ethanol production • Corn main feedstock. Why? • Conversion rates vary considerably • acre corn = 400 gallons ethanol • acre sugarcane = 600-800 gallons ethanol • Technology and production systems already existed to convert corn into ethanol • Political support to commodity farmers & farm states

  14. The “Liquid Goldrush” • Biofuel plants • 50 (1999) to 180 (2008) • Iowa: 34 plants (5 under construction) • Production capacity • 1.7 bg (1999) to >9 bg (2008) • Iowa: 2.7 bg

  15. U.S. Ethanol Industry National Corn Production • 2001-2006: average 79 million acres • 2007: 93 million acres • largest since 1944 • 2008: 86 million acres • Iowa: 14.3 million acres in 2007 (vs. 12.6 in 2006)

  16. USDA Long-term Projections, Feb 2009

  17. Share of corn production for ethanol • Share of corn production supplying ethanol market • 2001: 7.5 % • 2007: 22.6 % • 2016: 35 % (expected)

  18. US Corn Use (USDA Long-term Projections, Feb 2009)

  19. USDA Long-term Projections, Feb 2009

  20. Energy Independence? • Entire corn & soybean acreage in US • replace ~12% gasoline and 6% diesel transportation fuel • demand for petroleum continues to grow! • goal of 36 bg is merely dent in projected increase in fuel consumption • At what social, economic, environmental costs?

  21. A. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) • Largest government conservation program • 1985 Farm Bill • Environmental goal • Curtail soil erosion, improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat • Take “at risk” land out of production • Keep it/convert it to grass, trees, soil-conserving covers • Farmers receive annual payment for enrolling environmentally at risk land • Decade-long contracts

  22. A. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) • Program peaked 2007 • 400,000 farmers enrolled • receiving ~ $1.8 billion • ~37 million acres (>8% of cropland in the country). • land mass bigger than New York state • Iowa = 1.9 million acres enrolled

  23. Losing CRP Acres • April, 2008: farmers taken > 2 million acres CRP land out of program • As contracts expire, 2 million acres could be taken out each year over next 10 years • 2009, 1 million acres under CRP contract will expire in Iowa

  24. B. The “Dead Zone” • Corn – high user of nitrogen fertilizer • Fertilizer runoff • significant contributor to nitrogen pollution in surface and ground water • conservation programs reduce nitrogen runoff by 48-78% • feeds into Mississippi, major cause of “dead zone” - aquatic hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n7yyJinlNw

  25. B. The “Dead Zone” • 2008: dead zone 7,988 sq. mi (size of Massachusetts) • second largest in history • Directly linked to ethanol production • If farmers produce enough corn to meet goal of 15 bg of ethanol, nitrogen runoff into Gulf would increase 10% • Efforts to shrink dead zone “practically impossible"

  26. C. Deforestation • Expansion of biofuel production = deforestation • Brazil (Amazon, Cerrado), Indonesia, Malaysia • Aug 2007-Aug 2008 Amazon deforestation up 69% • 5,000 sq miles • Loss of biologically rich ecosystems • Loss of fragile wildlife habitats • Increase in carbon emissions • global warming

  27. The conversion of new areas into cropland, together with the subsequent destruction of ecosystems that remove carbon from the atmosphere, will result in large releases of carbon from the soil and forest biomass leading to a net increase in emissions (UN-Energy, 2007). Rain forest surrounded by soybean fields in Brazil

  28. How might US ethanol production contribute to deforestation in Brazil? US farmers are selling one-fifth of their corn to ethanol production, so US soybean farmers are switching to corn, so Brazilian soybean farmers are expanding into cattle pastures, so Brazilian cattlemen are displaced to the Amazon. (Grunwald, March 27, 2008)

  29. End of the Ethanol Boom? End 2008 – a perfect storm • Global economic crisis, financial credit crisis • Decline in gasoline consumption • Oil, gasoline prices plunged • Corn prices remain relatively high

  30. End of the Boom? • Bankruptcy and plant closures • ~10 companies closed 24 plants • dozen more companies in distress • idled ~2 billion gallons annual production capacity • industry not expected to meet government production targets • Solution? • Industry demanding increases to blend limit (currently 10%)

  31. Conclusion • Must consider social, economic, ethical, environmental consequences of alternative energy • Ethanol cannot resolve problems of growing demand for energy, oil dependency, and global warming • What alternatives? • Conservation? • Cellulosic? Wind? Solar?

More Related