Second-Generation Biofuels: Economics and Policies
By M. Carriquiry, Xiaodong Du, G. Timilsina. 2010
476 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Recent increases in production of crop-based (or first-generation) biofuels have engendered increasing concerns over potential conflicts with food supplies and land protection, as well as disputes over greenhouse gas reductions. This has heightened a sense of urgency around the development of biofuels produced from non-food biomass (second-generation biofuels). This study reviews the economic potential and environmental implications of production of second-generation biofuels from a variety of various feedstocks. Although second-generation biofuels could significantly contribute to the future energy supply mix, cost is a major barrier to increasing commercial production in the near to medium term. Depending on various factors, the cost of second-generation (cellulosic) ethanol can be two to three times as high as the current price of gasoline on an energy equivalent basis. The cost of biodiesel produced from microalgae, a prospective feedstock, is many times higher than the current price of diesel. Policy instruments for increasing biofuels use, such as fiscal incentives, should be based on the relative merits of different types of biofuels.
Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/394ee2a914440b06da5929038fd27c26a80d1081
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In Biomedical Engineering
In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
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Citations in the corpus
- How should barriers to alternative fuels and vehicles be classified and potential policies to promote innovative technologies be evaluated (2012, background): “Hydrogen Energy 2007; 32(15): 3526-3544.”
- Sustainability of the four generations of biofuels – A review (2020, background): “65/gal, which is two to three times higher than petroleum fuels.(94) A study conducted by Balan et al(61) shows the challenges associated with commercializing biofuels produce from lignocellulose biomass.”
- Global Biofuels at the Crossroads: An Overview of Technical, Policy, and Investment Complexities in the Sustainability of Biofuel Development (2017, background): “Yet residue utilization can also be disadvantageous, since crop residues also conserve soil properties, enhance soil productivity, sequester carbon in soil, and conserve water [89].”
- Demand-pull and technology-push public support for eco-innovation: The case of the biofuels sector (2015, background): “…non-food parts of current crops, as well as other crops that are not used for food purposes, such as switch grass and jatropha, or are obtained from algae, are expected to contribute significantly to the future energy supply mix (Balan et al., 2013; Carriquirya et al., 2011; Glithero et al., 2013).”