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The Future of Biofuels in an Electrifying Global Transportation Sector: Imperative, Prospects and Challenges
Author(s) -
Debnath Deepayan,
Khanna Madhu,
Rajagopal Deepak,
Zilberman David
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
applied economic perspectives and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.4
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2040-5804
pISSN - 2040-5790
DOI - 10.1093/aepp/ppz023
Subject(s) - biofuel , agriculture , natural resource economics , productivity , aviation biofuel , production (economics) , agricultural economics , greenhouse gas , business , electrification , biomass (ecology) , food processing , dilemma , economics , bioenergy , economic growth , engineering , waste management , political science , agronomy , electricity , ecology , philosophy , electrical engineering , macroeconomics , epistemology , law , biology
Low carbon alternatives are an imperative for decarbonizing the transportation sector. There is growing interest in electrification of transportation but even with aggressive growth in sales, a significant share of transportation is expected to rely on liquid fuel by midcentury. Biofuels are appealing as low carbon fuels but those produced from food crops generate a food vs. fuel dilemma. We discuss the prospects for expanding biofuels, while mitigating the competition with food production though a transition to second generation biofuels from biomass as well as the potential for biotechnology to transform the agricultural sector globally to increase crop productivity and make biofuels and food production complementary. We highlight the role for policy, technological innovations, and institutions to achieve increased food and biofuel production.