Sustainability Considerations in Modeling Bioenergy Production Scenarios.

The development and implementation of sustainable land-based bioenergy systems to counteract climate change will require a clear and holistic understanding of their impacts on land use change, land use competition, water use, greenhouse gas balance, economics, and biodiversity. This presentation will describe an interdisciplinary approach employed but the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to model and evaluate productivity and sustainability of bioenergy production in the US Great Lakes Region. We use a spatially-explicit approach to conduct biophysical and biogeochemical modeling of diverse cropping systems designed for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Upon completion the scenario simulations, the results are interpreted according to economic, environmental, and life-cycle analysis criteria. The ultimate goal of the project is to use all this information to design optimal landscape configurations capable of supporting long-term production of feedstocks for local biorefineries while preserving or even improving ecosystem services.