Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands
Bioenergy has the unique potential to provide a dispatchable and carbon-negative component to renewable energy portfolios. However, the sustainability, spatial distribution, and capacity for bioenergy are critically dependent on highly uncertain land-use impacts of biomass agriculture. Biomass culti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035012 |
| _version_ | 1797748051526287360 |
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| author | J Elliott Campbell David B Lobell Robert C Genova Andrew Zumkehr Christopher B Field |
| author_facet | J Elliott Campbell David B Lobell Robert C Genova Andrew Zumkehr Christopher B Field |
| author_sort | J Elliott Campbell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bioenergy has the unique potential to provide a dispatchable and carbon-negative component to renewable energy portfolios. However, the sustainability, spatial distribution, and capacity for bioenergy are critically dependent on highly uncertain land-use impacts of biomass agriculture. Biomass cultivation on abandoned agriculture lands is thought to reduce land-use impacts relative to biomass production on currently used croplands. While coarse global estimates of abandoned agriculture lands have been used for large-scale bioenergy assessments, more practical technological and policy applications will require regional, high-resolution information on land availability. Here, we present US county-level estimates of the magnitude and distribution of abandoned cropland and potential bioenergy production on this land using remote sensing data, agriculture inventories, and land-use modeling. These abandoned land estimates are 61% larger than previous estimates for the US, mainly due to the coarse resolution of data applied in previous studies. We apply the land availability results to consider the capacity of biomass electricity to meet the seasonal energy storage requirement in a national energy system that is dominated by wind and solar electricity production. Bioenergy from abandoned croplands can supply most of the seasonal storage needs for a range of energy production scenarios, regions, and biomass yield estimates. These data provide the basis for further down-scaling using models of spatially gridded land-use areas as well as a range of applications for the exploration of bioenergy sustainability. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-346601668aa748e1859791a0f7455bec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:24Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-346601668aa748e1859791a0f7455bec2023-08-09T14:40:03ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018303501210.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035012Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplandsJ Elliott Campbell0David B Lobell1Robert C Genova2Andrew Zumkehr3Christopher B Field4School of Engineering, University of California , Merced, CA 95343, USAEnvironmental Earth System Science Department, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institutions for Science , Stanford, CA 94305, USASchool of Engineering, University of California , Merced, CA 95343, USADepartment of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institutions for Science , Stanford, CA 94305, USABioenergy has the unique potential to provide a dispatchable and carbon-negative component to renewable energy portfolios. However, the sustainability, spatial distribution, and capacity for bioenergy are critically dependent on highly uncertain land-use impacts of biomass agriculture. Biomass cultivation on abandoned agriculture lands is thought to reduce land-use impacts relative to biomass production on currently used croplands. While coarse global estimates of abandoned agriculture lands have been used for large-scale bioenergy assessments, more practical technological and policy applications will require regional, high-resolution information on land availability. Here, we present US county-level estimates of the magnitude and distribution of abandoned cropland and potential bioenergy production on this land using remote sensing data, agriculture inventories, and land-use modeling. These abandoned land estimates are 61% larger than previous estimates for the US, mainly due to the coarse resolution of data applied in previous studies. We apply the land availability results to consider the capacity of biomass electricity to meet the seasonal energy storage requirement in a national energy system that is dominated by wind and solar electricity production. Bioenergy from abandoned croplands can supply most of the seasonal storage needs for a range of energy production scenarios, regions, and biomass yield estimates. These data provide the basis for further down-scaling using models of spatially gridded land-use areas as well as a range of applications for the exploration of bioenergy sustainability.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035012seasonal energy storagebioenergyland-use |
| spellingShingle | J Elliott Campbell David B Lobell Robert C Genova Andrew Zumkehr Christopher B Field Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands Environmental Research Letters seasonal energy storage bioenergy land-use |
| title | Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| title_full | Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| title_short | Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| title_sort | seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands |
| topic | seasonal energy storage bioenergy land-use |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035012 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jelliottcampbell seasonalenergystorageusingbioenergyproductionfromabandonedcroplands AT davidblobell seasonalenergystorageusingbioenergyproductionfromabandonedcroplands AT robertcgenova seasonalenergystorageusingbioenergyproductionfromabandonedcroplands AT andrewzumkehr seasonalenergystorageusingbioenergyproductionfromabandonedcroplands AT christopherbfield seasonalenergystorageusingbioenergyproductionfromabandonedcroplands |