IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v86y2009isupplement1ps21-s29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The social and environmental impacts of biofuels in Asia: An overview

Author

Listed:
  • Phalan, Ben

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the social and environmental costs and benefits of biofuels in Asia. The major factors that will determine the impacts of biofuels are: (1) their contribution to land-use change, (2) the feedstocks used, and (3) issues of technology and scale. Biofuels offer economic benefits, and in the right circumstances can reduce emissions and make a small contribution to energy security. Feedstocks that involve the conversion of agricultural land will affect food security and cause indirect land-use change, while those that replace forests, wetlands or natural grasslands will increase emissions and damage biodiversity. Biofuels from cellulose, algae or waste will avoid some of these problems, but come with their own set of uncertainties and risks. In order to ensure net societal benefits of biofuel production, governments, researchers, and companies will need to work together to carry out comprehensive assessments, map suitable and unsuitable areas, and define and apply standards relevant to the different circumstances of each country. The greatest benefits may come from feedstocks produced on a modest scale as co-products of smart technologies developed for phytoremediation, waste disposal and emissions reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Phalan, Ben, 2009. "The social and environmental impacts of biofuels in Asia: An overview," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 21-29, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:supplement1:p:s21-s29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(09)00171-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thamsiriroj, T. & Murphy, J.D., 2009. "Is it better to import palm oil from Thailand to produce biodiesel in Ireland than to produce biodiesel from indigenous Irish rape seed?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(5), pages 595-604, May.
    2. Farzad Taheripour, 2008. "Welfare Effects and Unintended Consequences of Ethanol Subsidies ," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(3), pages 411-421.
    3. Maros Ivanic & Will Martin, 2008. "Implications of higher global food prices for poverty in low‐income countries1," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 405-416, November.
    4. Tan, Raymond R. & Foo, Dominic Chwan Yee & Aviso, Kathleen B. & Ng, Denny Kok Sum, 2009. "The use of graphical pinch analysis for visualizing water footprint constraints in biofuel production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(5), pages 605-609, May.
    5. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Niven, Robert K., 2005. "Ethanol in gasoline: environmental impacts and sustainability review article," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 9(6), pages 535-555, December.
    7. Karan Capoor & Philippe Ambrosi, "undated". "State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008," World Bank Publications - Reports 13404, The World Bank Group.
    8. Madhu Khanna & Amy W. Ando & Farzad Taheripour, 2008. "Welfare Effects and Unintended Consequences of Ethanol Subsidies," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(3), pages 411-421.
    9. Koczberski, Gina, 2007. "Loose Fruit Mamas: Creating Incentives for Smallholder Women in Oil Palm Production in Papua New Guinea," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1172-1185, July.
    10. Akinci, Berk & Kassebaum, Paul G. & Fitch, Jonathan V. & Thompson, Robert W., 2008. "The role of bio-fuels in satisfying US transportation fuel demands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3485-3491, September.
    11. Mathews, John A., 2008. "Carbon-negative biofuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 940-945, March.
    12. Tegtmeier, Erin M & Duffy, Michael, 2004. "External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12659, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    13. Gupta, Eshita, 2008. "Oil vulnerability index of oil-importing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1195-1211, March.
    14. Nguyen, Thu Lan T. & Gheewala, Shabbir H. & Garivait, Savitri, 2008. "Full chain energy analysis of fuel ethanol from cane molasses in Thailand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(8), pages 722-734, August.
    15. Cernea, Michael, 1997. "The risks and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(10), pages 1569-1587, October.
    16. Ivanic, Maros & Martin, Will, 2008. "Implications of higher global food prices for poverty in low-income countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4594, The World Bank.
    17. Mitchell, Donald, 2008. "A note on rising food prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4682, The World Bank.
    18. Karan Capoor & Philippe Ambrosi, "undated". "State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008," World Bank Publications - Reports 13405, The World Bank Group.
    19. Rowe, Rebecca L. & Street, Nathaniel R. & Taylor, Gail, 2009. "Identifying potential environmental impacts of large-scale deployment of dedicated bioenergy crops in the UK," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 271-290, January.
    20. Somerville, Chris, 2007. "Development of Cellulosic Biofuels (PowerPoint)," Agricultural Outlook Forum 2007 8105, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Outlook Forum.
    21. Alcott, Blake, 2005. "Jevons' paradox," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 9-21, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nora Lustig, 2009. "Coping with Rising Food Prices: Policy Dilemmas in the Developing World," Working Papers 0907, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    2. Tomei, Julia & Upham, Paul, 2009. "Argentinean soy-based biodiesel: An introduction to production and impacts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3890-3898, October.
    3. Wu, Jy S. & Tseng, Hui-Kuan & Liu, Xiaoshuai, 2022. "Techno-economic assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal croplands in the U.S. southeast," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    4. Chen, Xiaoguang & Huang, Haixiao & Khanna, Madhu & Önal, Hayri, 2014. "Alternative transportation fuel standards: Welfare effects and climate benefits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 241-257.
    5. Derek Headey & Shenggen Fan, 2008. "Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 375-391, November.
    6. Luc Christiaensen, 2009. "Revisiting the Global Food Architecture. Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(3), pages 3345-3361.
    7. Hoekman, S. Kent & Broch, Amber, 2018. "Environmental implications of higher ethanol production and use in the U.S.: A literature review. Part II – Biodiversity, land use change, GHG emissions, and sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 3159-3177.
    8. Kamel Louhichi & Hugo Valin, 2012. "Impact of EU biofuel policies on the French arable sector: A micro-level analysis using global market and farm-based supply models," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 93(3), pages 233-272.
    9. Francesco Caracciolo & Fabio Santeramo, 2013. "Price Trends and Income Inequalities: Will Sub-Saharan Africa Reduce the Gap?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(1), pages 42-54.
    10. Derek Headey & Sangeetha Malaiyandi & Shenggen Fan, 2010. "Navigating the perfect storm: reflections on the food, energy, and financial crises," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 217-228, November.
    11. Estrades, Carmen & Terra, María Inés, 2012. "Commodity prices, trade, and poverty in Uruguay," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 58-66.
    12. Dong Hee Suh & Charles B. Moss, 2021. "Examining the Input and Output Linkages in Agricultural Production Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, January.
    13. Craig Sugden, 2009. "Responding to High Commodity Prices," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 23(1), pages 79-105, May.
    14. Cruz Jr., Jose B. & Tan, Raymond R. & Culaba, Alvin B. & Ballacillo, Jo-Anne, 2009. "A dynamic input-output model for nascent bioenergy supply chains," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 86-94, November.
    15. Joseph Mawejje, 2016. "Food prices, energy and climate shocks in Uganda," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Dong Hee Suh & Charles B. Moss, 2017. "Dynamic adjustment of ethanol demand to crude oil prices: implications for mandated ethanol usage," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1587-1607, June.
    17. Yamauchi, Futoshi & Larson, Donald F., 2019. "Long-term impacts of an unanticipated spike in food prices on child growth in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 330-343.
    18. Moschini, GianCarlo & Cui, Jingbo & Lapan, Harvey E., 2012. "Economics of Biofuels: An Overview of Policies, Impacts and Prospects," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 1(3), pages 1-28, December.
    19. Suh, Dong Hee & Moss, Charles B., 2014. "Dynamic Adjustment of Demand for Distiller's Grain: Implications for Feed and Livestock Markets," 2014 Annual Meeting, February 1-4, 2014, Dallas, Texas 162454, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    20. Giray GOZGOR & Baris KABLAMACI, 2014. "The linkage between oil and agricultural commodity prices in the light of the perceived global risk," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 60(7), pages 332-342.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:supplement1:p:s21-s29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.