When: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Where: Orca Books 509 East 4th Avenue, Olympia Phone 360.352.0123
Our April topic is Sustainable Bioenergy Landscapes of the Future.
See Below
Production of sustainable bioenergy to meet the EPA’s 17 billion gallon renewable fuel standard (RFS 2014) will require significant land use changes across the U.S. While corn grain ethanol is both sustainable and can be grown without displacing food crops, it has negative impacts on the atmosphere because more greenhouse gas emissions are produced compared to fossil fuels. Perennial grasses have been proposed as viable bioenergy crops because of their potential to yield significant biomass on marginal lands without displacing food and contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction by storing carbon in soil. Switchgrass, miscanthus, and restored native prairie are among the crops being considered in the corn and agricultural regions of the eastern United States.
Using modeling and observation-based approaches, we have found that growing perennial grasses would result in average onsite GHG reductions of 0.5-2.0 metric tons of CO2e ha-1 yr-1 compared to current land use practices, not including fossil fuel offsets. After conversion to bioenergy and complete life cycle assessment, offsite GHG savings can increase by up to 150%, providing a dry biomass supply of 11-22 metric tons per hectare each year for energy use. Initial estimates of additional land required to meet the cellulosic ethanol volume requirements range from 12-15 million hectares. We propose a bioenergy landscape composed of perennial grasses on marginal non-food growing lands and utilization of corn stover (residues) from current agricultural land.
Our speaker is Dr. Tara Hudiburg, Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Energy Biosciences Institute, Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
May 2014 Speaker:
Nano Materials
Professsor Peter Pauzauskia
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Washington, Seattle