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Readings for April 6For each section topic below, four people will be assigned to divide up among yourselves the presentations and discussions of the various articles. 1) Biofuels and the world energy budget First read the first, second and final chapters of Scott Montgomery's Mapping Global Energy. This will give you a lucid, well-written overview of the world energy system of which biofuels are a part. Then look at some Country Energy Profiles from the World Resources Institute, and also dink around a little bit in their maps, features, and if you want, data tables on energy. Finally, read about the science of how biomass produces energy in Peter McKendry's Energy Production from Biomass. We will spend the first half-hour or so of class going over the energy science contained in the McKendry article. We may also work through a primer on units for measuring energy, since this is one of the most confusing things in all of environmental science. Then Dr. Montgomery will be there from 1:00 to 2:00. He will listen to the presentations on his chapters and the other articles in this section, and lead the discussion. 2) Biomass energy from crops There are two basic kinds of biofuel production, if we look at it from a cross-scale ecosystem point of view. One kind is growing crops specifically for the purpose of producing biofuels. This kind of process, which we will see at the Durfey farm in Sunnyside, has both positive and negative impacts for carbon balance and for ecosystems, depending on the fuels themselves, what they displace, how they are transported, and the scale at which we analyze the impacts. To get a hold on this, first read Smart Choices for Biofuels, an overview of the impacts of various biofuels put out by the Sierra Club and Worldwatch Institute. Then read two short articles from Science, by Timothy Searchinger and by Joseph Fargione, on the specific problem of land clearing and carbon debt. You can also look at this from a specific LCA perspective in an article by Sarah Davis. Then look at another specific problem, the relationship between biofuel production and water resources, in a short summary of a National Academy of Sciences much more detailed report that is here but that you aren't really expected to read. Finally, two short New York Times articles, Life on the Ethanol-Guzzling Prairie, from 2007 when things were booming, and Ethanol, Just Recently a Savior, is Stuggling from 2009, will give you a start toward understanding the economics. After the break, we will have the student presentations on these articles, followed by general discussion. 3 Biomass energy from residues The second kind of biofuel production uses residues of other production processes that would otherwise go to "waste." We will see an example of this at the Yakama Power plant on the Yakama Reservation. This kind of biomass utilization at first seems "free" of cost, but like anything involving ecosystems, it is not so simple. First, go back to the world energy scale and look at Matti Parikka's Global Biomass Fuel Resources. Then get more local with David Nicholls, et al.'s overview of the available biomass residue resources in the forests of the western United States. Finally, look at the economic side of this question in Jianbang Gan's comparison of biomass with coal as energy sources and the way their use might vary depending on different kinds of policy and fiscal conditions. For the last half-hour or so, we will have the presentations on these topics. Right at the end, we will go over the assignments for the following week's class. |