Water impacts of U.S. biofuels: Insights from an assessment combining economic and biophysical models.

ABSTRACT: Biofuels policies induce land use changes (LUC), including cropland expansion and crop switching, and this in turn alters water and soil management practices. Policies differ in the extent and type of land use changes they induce and therefore in their impact on water resources. We quantify and compare the spatially varying water impacts of biofuel crops stemming from LUC induced by two different biofuels policies by coupling a biophysical model with an economic model to simulate the economically viable mix of crops, land uses, and crop management choices under alternative policy scenarios. We assess the outputs of an economic model with a high-resolution crop-water model for major agricultural crops and potential cellulosic feedstocks in the US to analyze the impacts of three alternative

SUBMITTER: Teter J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6161887 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature