Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural and Resource Economics

Major Professor

Burton C. English

Committee Members

Christopher Clark, Dayton Lambert, Jada Thompson

Abstract

Interest in renewable energy is increasing all over the world. The use of biomass as renewable energy is also rising. Different policy initiatives and targets incentivize the growth of renewable energy as well as the use of biomass for renewable energy. This study assesses the potential of biomass in the export market and evaluates the potential of energy crop within the United States (US). The first chapter of the thesis gives a broad introduction of the study. Furthermore, the second chapter examines factors and renewable policies that affect wood pellet export by US using a commodity specific gravity model. A monthly panel dataset of 11 countries of wood pellet export quantities is examined. The results suggest that importer renewable electricity production, US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and US renewable energy policy which incentivites to US wood pellet production positively affect US wood pellet export, while importer’s research and development policy for their wood pellet production and the trade regulation policies for biomass adversely affect US wood pellet exports.The third chapter of the thesis analyzes the potential of camelina as a renewable aviation fuel. Camelina has good oil content thus has the potential to supply the renewable aviation fuel. Camelina can be produced as a rotation crop and winter cover crop. This study considers camelina production as winter cover crop and analyzes the potential to supply renewable aviation fuel using a crop enterprise budget, the Environmental Policy Integrated Model (EPIC) and Partial Equilibrium Analysis (POLYSYS) models. This study calculates the cost of producing camelina, analysis the average yield variability in the US and simulates a national supply curve of camelina for different price scenarios. In the end, the supply of renewable aviation fuel from camelina is also generated at the national level.

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