Monetized value of the environmental, health and resource externalities of soy biodiesel

This study monetizes the life cycle environmental damage, human health risk, and resource depletion externalities associated with the production and use of biodiesel fuels from soybean feedstock. Applying a framework that couples life cycle damage measurements with social preferences elicited from a conjoint choice experiment allows for comparison of petrodiesel and biodiesel's external damages. The results of the study reveal that production and consumption of soybean based biodiesels produce improvements in environmental, health and resource impacts of $0.27 per gallon relative to petrodiesel for a 20% blend and $3.14 per gallon for a 100% blend. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.