High-value renewable energy from prairie grasses.
Projected economic benefits of renewable energy derived from a native prairie grass, switchgrass, include nonmarket values that can reduce net fuel costs to near zero. At a farm gate price of $44.00/dry Mg, an agricultural sector model predicts higher profits for switchgrass than conventional crops on 16.9 million hectares (ha). Benefits would include an annual increase of $6 billion in net farm returns, a $1.86 billion reduction in government subsidies, and displacement of 44-159 Tg/year (1 Tg = 1012 g) of greenhouse gas emissions. Incorporating these values into the pricing structure for switchgrass bioenergy could accelerate commercialization and provide net benefits to the U.S. economy.
McLaughlin
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SB
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee 37831, USA. mclaughlinsb@ornl.gov
de la Torre Ugarte
D G
DG
Garten
C T
CT
Lynd
L R
LR
Sanderson
M A
MA
Tolbert
V R
VR
Wolf
D D
DD
D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000191:economics; D003132:Commerce; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006109:Poaceae; D014481:United States