Forest Products Laboratory

Title: Strategic assessment of bioenergy development in the West : spatial analysis and supply curve development : final report, The University of California, Davis, September 1, 2008

Author: Skog, Kenneth E.; Patton-Mallory, Marcia; Rummer, Robert B.; Barbour, R. James

Date: 2008

Source: [Denver, Colo.] : Western Governors' Association, 2008: vi, 86 pages.

Description: 

Uncertainties in the contribution that biofuels might make in meeting the energy needs of the transportation sector in the western US by 2015 were addressed by combining a spatially-explicit resource inventory and assessment, models of conversion technologies, and transportation costs into an integrated model of biofuel supply chains. Geographic Information System (GIS) modeling was used in conjunction with an infrastructure system cost optimization model to develop biofuel supply curves using biomass feedstocks throughout the western US. Biofuels could provide between 5 and 10 percent of the projected transportation fuel demand in the region with fuel price between $2.40 and $3.00 per gasoline gallon equivalence (gge) excluding local distribution costs and taxes. A diverse resource base is relied on to provide this fuel with significant contributions from municipal solid waste, agricultural residue, herbaceous energy crop, forest thinning, corn, and lipid resources. The biofuel potential estimated in this way is significant, but substantial uncertainties remain. In interpreting the supply estimates, unresolved questions remain regarding economic performance of the different conversion technologies and the overall sustainability of many of the biomass resources considered.

Keywords: Renewable energy sources, forest products, West, statistics, marketing, economic aspects, prices, forest thinning, thinning, biomass, utilization, renewable natural resources, sustainable forestry, forest biomass, market surveys, agricultural wastes, biomass energy, fibers, cornstalks, plant fibers, wood waste, statistics, waste products, timber supply, supply and demand, geographic information systems, biomass, forest resources, thinnings, mapping

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Citation

Skog, Kenneth E.; Patton-Mallory, Marcia; Rummer, Robert B.; Barbour, R. James  2008.  Strategic assessment of bioenergy development in the West : spatial analysis and supply curve development : final report, The University of California, Davis, September 1, 2008.   [Denver, Colo.] : Western Governors' Association, 2008: vi, 86 pages..