title: The Interplay Between Bioenergy Grass Production and Water Resources in the United States of America.
abstract: We apply a land surface model to evaluate the interplay between potential bioenergy grass (Miscanthus, Cave-in-Rock, and Alamo) production, water quantity, and nitrogen leaching (NL) in the Central and Eastern U.S. Water use intensity tends to be lower where grass yields are modeled to be high, for example in the Midwest for Miscanthus and Cave-in-Rock and the upper southeastern U.S. for Alamo. However, most of these regions are already occupied by crops and forests and substitution of these biome types for ethanol production implies trade-offs. In general, growing Miscanthus consumes more water, Alamo consumes less water, and Cave-in-Rock consumes approximately the same amount of water as existing vegetation. Bioenergy grasses can maintain high productivity over time, even in water limited regions, because their roots can grow deeper and extract the water from the deep, moist soil layers. However, this may not hold where there are frequent and intense drought events, particularly in regions with shallow soil depths. One advantage of bioenergy grasses is that they mitigate nitrogen leaching relative to row crops and herbaceous plants when grown without applying N fertilizer; and bioenergy grasses, especially Miscanthus, generally require less N fertilizer application than row crops and herbaceous plants.
authors: Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Illinois , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Song
authors: Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Illinois , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Cervarich
authors: Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Illinois , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors: Atul K
authors: AK
authors: Jain
authors: ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey 08801, United States.
authors: Haroon S
authors: HS
authors: Kheshgi
authors: ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey 08801, United States.
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Landuyt
authors: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors: Ximing
authors: X
authors: Cai
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels / Q000191:economics*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D005308:Fertilizers; D065928:Forests; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009584:Nitrogen; D006109:Poaceae; D012987:Soil; D014481:United States; D014867:Water; D062066:Water Resources
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D005308:Fertilizers; D012987:Soil; D014867:Water; D009584:Nitrogen