Biofuels for Food – A spatial PEM approach to determine when the production of biofuel increases that of food crops
Mr Niklas Hinkel, University of Cologne, Germany Following initial excitement about biofuels, competition between energy crops and food crops for resources came to the center of attention in the mid-2000s, when food prices rose distinctly. The resulting generalizing criticism on biofuels needs to be differentiated. In this project, I show under which circumstances food production profits from biofuels. Namely, if high export costs, caused by high fuel costs, seclude the producers of underutilized agricultural areas from global markets, an expansion of local biofuel production could be beneficial. It would lower fuel costs and thus, transport and export costs. Given favorable market conditions (prices globally are higher than locally plus respective transport costs), producers could now profitably export and increase food output up to their capacity limit. This project outlines the transition from the dependence of imports from volatile oil markets towards sustainable energy independence in the transport sector of a developing economy (in this case Zambia). The production of biofuel is a technological innovation in energy supply, which permits an increase in agricultural production. This augments welfare globally. If this increase Read more…
Categories: Academic Papers, Energy economics, Energy policy, Renewables
Tags: biofuel, endogenous transport costs, Zambia
Hinkel_-_More_Biofuels__More_Food.pdf 466.31 KBSep
2016
