Rajagopal, Deepak and David Zilberman.

from ARE Update Vol. 11, No. 3, Jan/Feb, 2008

View Article PDF: The Use of Environmental Life-Cycle Analysis for Evaluating Biofuels

Abstract

Life-cycle analysis (LCA), the methodology used to assess the impact of producing biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), may lead to flawed policy implications as it assumes that coefficients could be fixed rather than functions of policies and market forces. The methodology needs to be modified to recognize the effects of prices and changes in technology and policy over time. Fuel quality standards that are based on LCA are likely to be more costly than when controlling GHG emissions by carbon tax or a global cap-and-trade scheme.

Keywords

Life-cycle analysis of biofuels, LCA

Citation

Rajagopal, Deepak and David Zilberman. 2008. "The Use of Environmental Life-Cycle Analysis for Evaluating Biofuels." ARE Update 11(3): 5-8. University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1453327748/16768/