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EMF 33: Bio-Energy and Land Use

Ongoing

Investigators

Abstract: 
The EMF 33 Bio-Energy and Land Use study is motivated by the need for information and analysis to help answer two critical questions: (1) How feasible are very low temperature change scenarios rely heavily on massive deployments of advanced bio-energy technologies, and (2) Massive bio-energy expansion could have many large negative side effects on land, water, food; how large could these impacts be and what can be done to limit them.

Bioenergy has been shown to be a potentially valuable, and maybe essential, strategy for long-run climate management. However, there is significant variation in bioenergy deployment results and uncertainty about the social implications and technological challenges associated with large-scale deployment. The EMF 30 Bioenergy Study is focused on understanding, assessing and improving biomass supply and demand modeling within integrated assessment frameworks. Our initial research focus will be on the potential supply of biomass for bioenergy production and its environmental implications. We will then shift our attention to biomass energy conversion and demand with an emphasis on representing the timing and performance of second and possibly third generation bio-energy technologies. The third and final phase of the study will consider fully integrated full scale biomass scenarios including supply, demand, and land use considerations (including the completion for land between bio-energy crops, agriculture and other societal uses).

The steering committee for the EMF 33 BioE/LU MIP is:

Nico Bauer: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Allen Fawcett: US Environmental Protection Agency
Nicklaus Forsell, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Shinichiro Fujimori: National Institute for Environmental Studies
Petr Havlik: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
George Hurtt: The University of Maryland
Volker Krey: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Elmar Kriegler: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Alexander Popp: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research
Steven Rose: Electric Power Research Institute
Detlef van Vuuren: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
John Weyant: Stanford University
Marshall Wise: Joint Global Change Research Institute
Wolfgang Zhang: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Tentative Schedule for EMF 33:

Meeting #1: Tsukuba Japan, Oct. 30 - Nov. 1, 2013
Meeting #2: University of Maryland, Nov 19-21, 2014
Meeting # 3: Three Virtual On Line Meetings June-July 2015
Meeting #4: Potsdam, Germany, Nov 18-20, 2015
Meeting #5: TBD, Spring 2016
Final Report Release: End 2016

Project Contact: 

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