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Erosion analysis related to corn-based ethanol production in the US
Citation:
Bare, J. Erosion analysis related to corn-based ethanol production in the US. Presented at SETAC Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA, November 11 - 16, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this presentation is to share development in land use impact assessment in LCIA.
Description:
Since the Renewable Fuel Standard has encouraged the development of biofuels, the US has seen an increase in corn production for conversion to ethanol. In many of these agricultural regions, increased corn production is accompanied with increased erosion. An erosion analysis will be presented that includes one regional scenario analysis of 12 US Midwestern states which is responsible for 88% of the corn production. Additional modeling will be done in the future to expand this analysis projecting two possible future scenarios for land use in 2020. The ArcGIS modeling was conducted with a 30 meter x 30 meter grid defining land use / land cover. The Natural Capital’s InVEST was used to provide additional insights into erosion at each 30 meter x 30 meter location.
