Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Brazilian sugarcane ethanol as an expandable green alternative to crude oil use
AU - Jaiswal, D.
AU - De Souza, A.P.
AU - Larsen, Sø.
AU - Lebauer, D.S.
AU - Miguez, F.E.
AU - Sparovek, G.
AU - Bollero, G.
AU - Buckeridge, M.S.
AU - Long, S.P.
N1 - Cited By :21 Export Date: 22 July 2019 Correspondence Address: Long, S.P.; Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois UrbanaUnited States; email: slong@illinois.edu
PY - 2017/10/23
Y1 - 2017/10/23
N2 - Reduction of CO 2 emissions will require a transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. Expansion of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol provides one near-term scalable solution to reduce CO 2 emissions from the global transport sector. In contrast to corn ethanol, the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol system may offset 86% of CO 2 emissions compared to oil use, and emissions resulting from land-use change to sugarcane are paid back in just 2-8 years. But, it has been uncertain how much further expansion is possible given increasing demand for food and animal feed, climate change impacts and protection of natural ecosystems. We show that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol can provide the equivalent of 3.63-12.77 Mb d -1 of crude oil by 2045 under projected climate change while protecting forests under conservation and accounting for future land demand for food and animal feed production. The corresponding range of CO 2 offsets is 0.55-2.0 Gigatons yr -1. This would displace 3.8-13.7% of crude oil consumption and 1.5-5.6% of net CO 2 emission globally relative to data for 2014.
AB - Reduction of CO 2 emissions will require a transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. Expansion of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol provides one near-term scalable solution to reduce CO 2 emissions from the global transport sector. In contrast to corn ethanol, the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol system may offset 86% of CO 2 emissions compared to oil use, and emissions resulting from land-use change to sugarcane are paid back in just 2-8 years. But, it has been uncertain how much further expansion is possible given increasing demand for food and animal feed, climate change impacts and protection of natural ecosystems. We show that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol can provide the equivalent of 3.63-12.77 Mb d -1 of crude oil by 2045 under projected climate change while protecting forests under conservation and accounting for future land demand for food and animal feed production. The corresponding range of CO 2 offsets is 0.55-2.0 Gigatons yr -1. This would displace 3.8-13.7% of crude oil consumption and 1.5-5.6% of net CO 2 emission globally relative to data for 2014.
KW - alternative energy
KW - carbon emission
KW - climate change
KW - conservation management
KW - crude oil
KW - emission control
KW - environmental impact assessment
KW - ethanol
KW - fossil fuel
KW - sugar cane
KW - Brazil
KW - Animalia
KW - Zea mays
U2 - 10.1038/nclimate3410
DO - 10.1038/nclimate3410
M3 - Journal article
VL - 7
SP - 788
EP - 792
JO - Nature Climate Change
JF - Nature Climate Change
SN - 1758-678X
IS - 11
ER -