Journal
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 69-74Publisher
ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER
DOI: 10.1890/110003
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Energy Biosciences Institute
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1027319] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In the US, 95% of biofuel is produced from corn (Lea mays L), an intensively managed annual crop that is also grown for food and animal feed. Using the DAYCENT model, we estimated the effects on ecosystem services of replacing corn ethanol feedstocks with the perennial cellulosic feedstocks switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L) and miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus Greef et Deuter). If cellulosic feedstocks were planted on cropland that is currently used for ethanol production in the US, more ethanol (+82%) and grain for food (+4%) could be produced while at the same time reducing nitrogen leaching (-15 to -22%) and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions (-29 to -473%). The GHG reduction was large even after accounting for emissions associated with indirect land-use change. Conversion from a high-input annual crop to a low-input perennial crop for biofuel production can thus transition the central US from a net source to a net sink for GHGs.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available