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Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2008 Publication Date: 8/21/2008 Citation: Hively, W. 2008. Sustainable bioenergy production in the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural landscape: Potential and peril [abstract]. 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, August 17-21, 2008, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2008 CDROM. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The current focus on corn-based ethanol production, while it has stimulated the farm economy through increased prices for grain crops, risks unsustainable side effects associated with increased pollution by nutrients, sediments, and pesticides, increased irrigation demands, and conversion of critical conservation areas into row crop production. The Chesapeake Bay Commission recently published a report estimating that increased corn acreage associated with biofuels will increase nitrogen loading to the Chesapeake Bay by five million pounds annually, unless conservation practices for corn land are substantially increased. In this circumstance, it is important to clearly evaluate the environmental effects of biofuels production, and to promote a diverse portfolio of environmentally and economically sustainable biofuel products. Positive sum practices under investigation include the use of winter small grains as ethanol feedstock, development of conservation crops such as switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol production, on-farm pyrolysis of chicken manure, bio-diesel production from waste chicken fat, and processing of wastewater byproducts. |
