Roxana Javid
Texas Tech University, USA
Title: The effect of biodiesel production on the CO2 emissions and area harvested for oilseeds
Biography
Biography: Roxana Javid
Abstract
This study investigated the impacts of biodiesel produced from oilseeds on global CO2 emissions as well as the United States oilseeds area harvested and yields. Oilseeds mainly include soybean, maize, sunflower seed, rapeseeds, and sugarcane. Three scenarios were defined: first scenario evaluated the effect of percent changes in the U.S. biodiesel production by 2011 based on 2001. The second one addressed the same impacts when both the U.S. and the EU produce biodiesel and the third one reported historical changes in U.S. biodiesel production. GATP-BIO model was utilized to develop the scenarios and analyze the results. The model divided each country’s land endowment into 18 Argo Ecological Zones (AEZs), and the whole world into 18 trading regions and 21 industries. Findings showed that as a result of the U.S. and the EU biodiesel production, CO2 emissions were decreased in the U.S. and the EU. Additionally the world’s total CO2 emissions were reduced by 0.13% mainly due to reduction in household diesel consumption. It was found that considering AEZs is critical for the economic and land coverage analysis. Finally, the U.S. tax credit policy was found to be efficient in biodiesel productions.