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The impact of advanced biofuels on aviation emissions and operations in the U.S

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  • Winchester, Niven
  • Malina, Robert
  • Staples, Mark D.
  • Barrett, Steven R.H.

Abstract

We analyze the economic and emissions impacts on U.S. commercial aviation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s renewable jet fuel goal when met using advanced fermentation (AF) fuel from perennial grasses. These fuels have recently been certified for use in aircraft and could potentially provide greater environmental benefits than aviation biofuels approved previously. Due to uncertainties in the commercialization of AF technologies, we consider a range of assumptions concerning capital costs, energy conversion efficiencies and product slates. In 2030, estimates of the implicit subsidy required to induce consumption of AF jet fuel range from $0.45 to $20.85 per gallon. These correspond to a reference jet fuel price of $3.23 per gallon and AF jet fuel costs ranging from $4.01 to $24.41 per gallon. In all cases, as renewable jet fuel represents around 1.4% of total fuel consumed by commercial aviation, the goal has a small impact on aviation operations and emissions relative to a case without the renewable jet fuel target, and emissions continue to grow relative to those in 2005. Costs per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent abated by using biofuels range from $42 to $652.

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  • Winchester, Niven & Malina, Robert & Staples, Mark D. & Barrett, Steven R.H., 2015. "The impact of advanced biofuels on aviation emissions and operations in the U.S," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 482-491.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:49:y:2015:i:c:p:482-491
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2015.03.024
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    Cited by:

    1. Janić, Milan, 2018. "An assessment of the potential of alternative fuels for “greening†commercial air transportation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 235-247.
    2. Winchester, Niven, 2019. "A win-win solution to abate aviation CO2 emissions," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Coban, Kahraman & Şöhret, Yasin & Colpan, C. Ozgur & Karakoç, T. Hikmet, 2017. "Exergetic and exergoeconomic assessment of a small-scale turbojet fuelled with biodiesel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P2), pages 1358-1367.
    4. Jiang, Changmin & Yang, Hangjun, 2021. "Carbon tax or sustainable aviation fuel quota," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Cansino, José M. & Román, Rocío, 2017. "Energy efficiency improvements in air traffic: The case of Airbus A320 in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 109-122.
    6. Sharma, Bijay P. & Yu, Tun-Hsiang Edward & English, Burton C. & Boyer, Christopher M., 2018. "Analyzing the Economics of Renewable Jet Fuels Using a Game-theoretic Approach," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273787, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Masum, Farhad Hossain & Coppola, Ed & Field, John L. & Geller, Daniel & George, Sheeja & Miller, Jonathan L. & Mulvaney, Michael J. & Nana, Sanjay & Seepaul, Ramdeo & Small, Ian M. & Wright, David & D, 2023. "Supply chain optimization of sustainable aviation fuel from carinata in the Southeastern United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    8. Fageda, Xavier & Teixidó, Jordi J., 2022. "Pricing carbon in the aviation sector: Evidence from the European emissions trading system," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Dahal, Karna & Brynolf, Selma & Xisto, Carlos & Hansson, Julia & Grahn, Maria & Grönstedt, Tomas & Lehtveer, Mariliis, 2021. "Techno-economic review of alternative fuels and propulsion systems for the aviation sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Yilmaz, Nadir & Atmanli, Alpaslan, 2017. "Sustainable alternative fuels in aviation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P2), pages 1378-1386.
    11. Chen, Zhongfei & Wanke, Peter & Antunes, Jorge Junio Moreira & Zhang, Ning, 2017. "Chinese airline efficiency under CO2 emissions and flight delays: A stochastic network DEA model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 89-108.
    12. Gouzaye, Amadou & Epplin, Francis M., 2016. "Land requirements, feedstock haul distance, and expected profit response to land use restrictions for switchgrass production," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 59-66.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aviation; Biofuels; Climate Change; Emissions Abatement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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