Full Title: Biomass co-utilization with unconventional fossil fuels to advance energy security and climate policy
Author(s): J. Rhodes, D. Keith
Publisher(s): n/a (sponsored by NCEP)
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This report addresses potential synergies in the co-development of unconventional fossil fuels— particularly liquid fuels from coal and from ultra-heavy petroleum, such as bitumen from Canadian oil sands—and bioenergy to advance the twin goals of energy and climate security. While many opportunities for synergy exist, it is naïve to imagine that hard trade-offs can be avoided. Wise policy must take these trade-offs seriously in order to find ways to advance both goals efficiently.
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The report reaches two broad technical conclusions. First, integration of bio-energy into unconventional fuel production chains can ease intrinsic trade-offs between energy security and climate risk.
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Second, under plausible regulatory instruments, such as a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) on lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, co-utilization of bio-energy could dramatically increase the amount of unconventional fuel production permitted.