Finally, Strong Protocols for Ag Nutrient and Cropland Management GHG Reductions!

By Patrick Wood

I’ve been working in agricultural GHG accounting for nearly 5 years.  I remember, when I first read through the IPCC inventory, I was struck by the magnitude of the Global Warming Potential of N₂O…298 times greater than carbon dioxide according to the most recent IPCC assessment report.   Combined with alleviating the soil and water quality impacts of excessive fertilizer, the best practices used may also improve H₂O management and soil quality at the same time.  Assuming that the farmer can maintain high yields, this double or even triple whammy (I know not a very technical term, substitute stacking or bundling of ecosystem services instead if you want) of benefits over GHG emission reductions seems like a excellent win-win.

The New Black (Green?)

By Simon Bird

As the delegates are meeting in Cancun for COP 16, the vast majority of the talk has been on the many failings in our attempts to manage and mitigate global climate change. This comes on the heels of the U.S.’s failed attempt to develop comprehensive energy and climate legislation in 2010. However, throughout the landscape there are bright spots and areas of important work on carbon management and environmental protection. This includes the incredible amount of groundwork that has been completed to create functioning carbon registries, standards and protocols.

A major accomplishment is the new carbon offset protocols for improved forest management, reforestation and avoided conversion of forests. These forest-based protocols required finding extensive common ground to adequately balance the need for credible standards and methodologies (including issues such as additionality, permanence and leakage), while keeping them both workable across a broad area and financially feasible.

Field Impressions from a Carbon Forestry Survey Trip

By Brian Colleran

Effectively inventorying the ability of a forest to sequester carbon can be a daunting task, where dealing with unexpected challenges of field work is just part of a normal trip into the forest. During our latest excursion in October, we thought we were ready for anything. We had been to this property before, and had decided upon elegant solutions to all of our common challenges, as well as a few unexpected ones we might face. We had found and mapped out fords to cross the large streams in our way, upgraded our gear to include some logging tools and a protective case for our Trimble handheld computer/GPS receiver, and knew where to go for the best breakfast in north central Maine (Spencer’s Café and Bakery in Dover-Foxcroft, just in case you’re curious). We had even figured out the best way to access hard to reach sample points both within and on the far side of a very large conifer bog: we were going to canoe for 15 minutes and save ourselves an hour of walking in both the morning and the afternoon. It was shaping up to be a really successful field trip. The weather was even forecast to be clear of rain and snow for the week we would be working.

Then, reality set in. Very quickly, we realized that the amount of daylight changes dramatically from September, when we were last in the field, to October.

Bioenergy Accounting Challenges

Bioenergy Accounting Challenges

by Jeffrey Frost

Bioenergy is like the little engine that could.  Given the fixed land supply and the imperative to produce our food, feed, fiber and bioenergy feedstocks, astute observers have long noticed that even under optimistic biomass supply estimates, bioenergy can only fulfill one piece of our low carbon renewable energy future.  And while solar, wind, and hydro will ultimately, by necessity, be forced to absorb an increasing share of the total renewable energy resource demand, today’s available bioenergy – in the form of liquid biofuels, and electrical and thermal biopower – can help to reduce fossil fuel consumption before the forces of climate change create unimaginable dislocations to 21^st century life.

Models versus Common Sense

By Jeffrey Frost

When the models we use generate answers which violate common sense, it is time to check the prevailing assumptions within.  The Manomet study for Massachusetts, “Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Policy Study”, essentially concludes that global warming will be exacerbated by substituting forest biomass energy for fossil fuels for the production of electricity.  I do not have to think very hard or long to conclude that digging up ancient carbon from coal, oil, and natural gas is unlikely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as compared to growing renewable biomass in our forests and harvesting it for energy use.  Yet, this is exactly what the Manomet study tells us, wrapped in massive amounts of very sophisticated analysis.

I have no wish to invalidate the strong work product produced by a stellar team regarding an analysis of prime importance:  Will renewable forest biomass or fossil fuels best serve our needs for a low-carbon energy future[1]?  I do suggest a need to examine the logic behind some of the prevailing assumptions – explicit and inherent – in this extensive analysis.  Here then are the questions which need to be answered:

1. How do you choose the point in the growth and harvest cycle for forest biomass at which to begin the analysis?  Manomet chose to begin the life cycle analysis with the day of harvest.  If they had taken the other extreme and started the analysis the day after harvest (the first day of sequestration), the results would have flipped entirely and showed the huge benefits of biomass over fossil fuels instead of the reverse finding.  Intuitively, the biomass must be grown and the carbon sequestered before it can be combusted anyway.  The most defensible answer is probably to begin the analysis midway between harvests which will improve the relative status of biomass substantially.

Corn Grain Ethanol: Yesterday’s news or a forgotten asset?

By Simon Bird

Listening to the headlines swirling around the energy world it’s easy to forget that corn grain ethanol constitutes our nation’s largest supply of biofuel. Almost all of the biofuel news is dominated with discussions of the newest breakthroughs in enzymes for cellulosic biofuels and advances in yield and recovery of oils from algae. But, by and large, all of these new technologies are still in the developmental stage, and many have been struggling to find the capital needed to ramp up their production from the lab to full commercial-scale facilities. In the mean time, corn grain ethanol has been left out of the equation, battered by dramatic shifts in the price for gasoline, corn and energy, and government policy for transportation fuels.

Why is this important? Is this just a sign that corn grain ethanol is old news? Though the production of corn grain ethanol does have greater potential for environmental degradation then the waste-product feedstocks used in advanced biofuels, there is much room for improvement in the current processes and sufficient low-hanging fruit that, with the right incentives, the industry could continue to show dramatic improvement. Additionally, it is widely estimated that the future of transportation fuels will be a dynamic mixture of alternative fuel sources, not one dominated by a single fuel as gasoline has for more than a century. Corn grain ethanol, as the only widely available alternative fuel source, provides a vital bridge to this future. Therefore, it is essential that all value-chain members of corn grain ethanol have methods that provide clear and effective incentives to improve their practices, and reduce their CO₂e emissions. However, as environmental accountants, we are consistently frustrated by the lack of tangible current opportunities for corn grain ethanol producers.

Delivering GHG Reductions under Various Climate Policy Options

By Charles Kerchner

With the economic concerns, health care debate, and climate skepticism delaying any immediate action on climate change policy in Washington, the door has been left open for other climate policy proposals. The question facing farm and forest landowners during this time of uncertainty is: How can the agriculture and forestry sectors deliver GHG reduction benefits under any policy option on the table?

To date, the lion’s share of attention has been given to the cap-and-trade policy (i.e., the Waxman-Markey bill and the Kerry-Boxer bill). Under a cap-and-trade system the agriculture and forestry sectors are expected to be uncapped sectors and are expected to deliver substantial quantities of offsets to capped entities at an early stage in the game.  This could represent a multi-billion dollar a year revenue stream for American foresters and farmers.  However, if a cap-and-trade system is not the chosen policy, there are still opportunities under the other options being considered.

The Pyrolysis-Biochar Bioenergy Pathway for Agriculture

By Jeffrey Frost

Pyrolysis is a form of controlled combustion of biomass.  It yields bioenergy in the form of bio-oil.  It also yields a soil amendment coproduct, biochar, with remarkable carbon sequestration properties of indefinitely long duration.  In other words, this is a bioenergy pathway which utilizes biomass in a manner which not only produces energy, but simultaneously produces the coproduct biochar which enhances soil quality and agricultural yields. Moreover, this pathway concurrently sequesters large quantities of carbon in a manner expected to earn valuable carbon offset credits.

Imminent Eligibility Deadline to Register Livestock Anaerobic Digestion Projects with the Climate Action Reserve

By Patrick Wood

February 28th, 2010 marks the last day that existing dairy and swine livestock anaerobic digestion (AD) projects are eligible to sign up for participation in the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) carbon offset program. After this date, only new projects and those transferring from another offset program (e.g. the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), will be eligible to participate in the Reserve program to sell CAR registered offsets. Currently the Reserve is far and away the best option for farms seeking to make money selling offsets from their AD projects.

U.S. Liquid Biofuels Carbon Markets Strategic Synthesis Executive Summary Announced

By Justine Sears

AgRefresh is proud to announce the release of the U.S. Liquid Biofuels Carbon Markets Monetization: A Strategic Synthesis Executive Summary Excerpt. This summary is an excerpt from our upcoming report detailing the liquid biofuels industry’s carbon market and renewable fuel credit market opportunities. The Excerpt was released in conjunction with an informational webinar that was well-attended by a variety of industry groups and biofuel producers. We received a number of insightful questions during the webinar and look forward to continuing to engage with clients and prospective clients about how the biofuels industry can access carbon markets.