The Impact of an EU–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement on Biofuel and Feedstock Markets

We assess the impact of a potential TTIP bilateral free trade agreement on the EU and US bio‐economies (feedstock, biofuels, by‐products, and related competing crops) and major trade partners in these markets. The analysis develops a multi‐market model that incorporates bilateral trade flows (US to EU, EU to US, and similarly with third countries) and is calibrated to the OECD‐FAO baseline for 2013–2022 to account for recent policy decisions. The major policy reforms from a TTIP involve tariff and TRQ liberalisation and their direct contractionary impact on US sugar supply, EU biofuel production, and indirect negative effect on US high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) production. EU sugar and isoglucose production expand along with US ethanol and biodiesel and oilseed crushing. EU sugar would flow to the US, US biofuels and vegetable oil to the EU. We further quantify non‐tariff measures (NTM) affecting these trade flows between the EU and the US. EU oilseed production contracts, and EU crushing expands with improving crushing margins following reduced NTM frictions. Our analysis reveals limited net welfare gains with most net benefits reaped by Brazil and not the two trading partners of the TTIP.     

欧盟促进可再生能源使用指令2009／28／EC概述

文章介绍了欧盟可再生能源政策的概况，以及促进可再生能源使用指令2009／28／EC。指令规定到2020年，整个欧盟的能源消耗中至少有20％来自可再生能源，且每个成员国运输领域的能源消耗中至少有10％来自生物燃料。     

Land Allocation between Food and Energy

Many countries are promoting biofuels as a substitute for scarce oil. This paper develops a dynamic model of land allocation between food and energy and shows how the model can be calibrated using standard optimization techniques. Some possible implications of the trade-offs between food and energy are discussed. Specifically, we show that the effect of mandates is mainly felt through increased land conversion, which increases indirect carbon emissions Crude oil prices do not decrease significantly because of leakages.     

Economic Potential of Biomass Based Fuels for Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation

Use of biofuels diminishes fossil fuelcombustion thereby also reducing net greenhousegas emissions. However, subsidies are neededto make agricultural biofuel productioneconomically feasible. To explore the economicpotential of biofuels in a greenhouse gasmitigation market, we incorporate data onproduction and biofuel processing for thedesignated energy crops switchgrass, hybridpoplar, and willow in an U.S. AgriculturalSector Model along with data on traditionalcrop-livestock production and processing, andafforestation of cropland. Net emissioncoefficients on all included agriculturalpractices are estimated through crop growthsimulation models or taken from the literature. Potential emission mitigation policies ormarkets are simulated via hypothetical carbonprices. At each carbon price level, theAgricultural Sector Model computes the newmarket equilibrium, revealing agriculturalcommodity prices, regionally specificproduction, input use, and welfare levels,environmental impacts, and adoption ofalternative management practices such asbiofuel production. Results indicate no rolefor biofuels below carbon prices of $40 perton of carbon equivalent. At these incentivelevels, emission reductions via reduced soiltillage and afforestation are more costefficient. For carbon prices above $70,biofuels dominate all other agriculturalmitigation strategies.     

Planning and Uncovering Industrial Symbiosis: Comparing the Rotterdam and Östergötland regions

Industrial ecology is defined as the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems and as such may focus on a geographic area, resource and/or industry sector. In these types of setting, industrial ecology is also often known as industrial symbiosis (IS). The proximity of companies in industrial estates facilitates the linking of utilities and the exchange of wastes and by‐products, which may eventually be useful inputs for adjacent industrial processes. The typical model that has been applied in several regions of the world is one where an anchor‐tenant organization with energy and by‐product linkages is connected to companies physically located nearby. In the case of biomass symbiosis, however, the resource chains are not explicitly arranged by their industrial setting and the supply of waste and by‐products is able to be organized in a more scattered way. In this article, the role of industrial symbiosis is analyzed in respect of the planned industrial symbiosis activities in the Rotterdam Harbour and Industry Complex in the Netherlands and in the application of renewable energy in the Östergötland region in Sweden. The objective of this article is to discuss the similarities and differences between the planned industrial symbiosis activities in Rotterdam and the unplanned biomass and industrial symbiosis activities in the Östergötland region. By presenting this knowledge in this article, it is anticipated that further development of industrial symbiosis application processes may be achieved. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

微生物合成气发酵生产生物燃料的研究

许多生物质原料（如秸秆和木材）不易被微生物直接降解并转化为生物燃料。而将它们气化为合成气就可解决这一问题，因为有些微生物是能够利用CO和H2（合成气的基本组成部分）合成多碳化合物的。而氢气又可以由一氧化碳自养氢气生成菌在利用CO和H2O进行生长的过程中提供。但是，目前只有少数的嗜热菌能良好地利用合成气生长，而能够被用来进行有机化合物生产。新菌株的分离鉴定和代谢工程将扩大合成气发酵的产品范围。另外，尽管基因手段目前无法用于此生产过程，合成气发酵在生物燃料生产方面仍然有优势并具有潜力。     

Driving on liquid sunshine – the Brazilian biofuel experience: a policy driven analysis

This paper analyses Brazil's experience with biofuels, focusing on the central role of the federal government as the main force driving the implementation of alternative locally produced ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and biodiesel. The pioneering, large scale ethanol programme that started over 30 years ago can be considered the most successful experience with the use of biofuels to date, as the government was able to rapidly implement the use of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) as a substitute for petrol in the 1970s and 1980s. The work contributes to the general discussion of sustainable and renewable energy sources and sets out the key policy mechanisms used. The paper also innovatively looks at the second large governmental intervention in the renewable fuels market – the biodiesel programme. In addition to the contribution to the debate surrounding command‐and‐control measures and economic incentive instruments, the paper analyses how lessons learned from the ethanol experiment were taken into consideration in the design and implementation of the biodiesel mandate, including social and environmental facets. It emphasizes the uniqueness of producing sugarcane ethanol in the Brazilian context and how attempts to carry out similar fast growing biofuels programmes may not be possible in other parts of the world. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

英国可再生能源产业发展现状

英国在发展可再生能源方面具有良好的自然条件，特别在离岸风能及波浪能和潮汐能方面。但英国在开发这一潜力方面做得并不够好，目前，英国来自可再生能源的发电量占其全部用电需求的不足5％，远远落后于世界上一些先进国家。这其中有多方面的原因，如英国的入网电价相对便宜（与欧洲其他国家相比），政府对可再生能源行业的财政补贴较少，以及在批准可再生能源项目方面遇到的延误和障碍较多等等。但是，随着近些年一系列鼓励政策和措施的出台，英国在可再生能源方面会有一个较为光明的前景，从而实现它确保能源安全及减少温室气体排放的双重目标。     

A Cointegrating approach to budget deficits and long-term interest rates

A cointegrating approach is undertaken in this study to determine if there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between budget deficits and long-term interest rates for the United States and nine European countries. The cointegration approach consists of conducting cointegration tests and then testing several hypothesized values for the deficit and price expectations variables. The cointegration results suggest the existence of several significant cointegrating vectors for each of the ten countries, which would seem to appeal to the view of budget deficits having a positive impact on long-term interest rates. The hypothesized values for the deficit and price expectations variables are found to be too strict since the hypotheses are rejected in every case but one.     

Bioethanol supply chain system planning under supply and demand uncertainties

A mixed integer stochastic programming model is established to support strategic planning of bioenergy supply chain systems and optimal feedstock resource allocation in an uncertain decision environment. The two-stage stochastic programming model, together with a Lagrange relaxation based decomposition solution algorithm, was implemented in a real-world case study in California to explore the potential of waste-based bioethanol production. The model results show that biowaste-based ethanol can be a viable part of sustainable energy solution for the future.