223
to agriculture typically increases water use and pollution. First-generation biofuels
make up over 99% of the biofuels feedstock, and expansion of demand for them in
the USA resulted in food price volatility in 2008 and 2010-2011 (Wise and Cole
2015). Corn prices reported by the USDA oscillated from a high of $7.60 per bushel
in August 2012 to a low of $3.15 per bushel in November 2017.
6
In 2018, the USDA
recorded that 38% of US corn production volume was used for ethanol production,
up from 14% in 2007 when demand first began increasing to meet the RFS.
7
However, in 2018 the amount of corn dedicated to ethanol production declined for
the first time since 2012. In 2015, the Department estimated that the RFS and similar
targets in other countries with aggressive biofuel goals could result in some
32–42 million additional acres of land devoted to first-generation biofuel production
worldwide. Not surprisingly, biofuels mandates can impact domestic production
practices, as farmers respond to price signals in the commodities markets and plant
more crops for use as biofuels feedstocks.
A second reason biofuels remain controversial is that their ability to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions is questionable, especially with current technology.
Energy balance, a common metric for measuring the energy benefits of biofuels,
compares the total energy needed to produce one unit of fuel to the total energy
output of that unit of fuel. As Saundry (2019) noted recently, the energy balance of
corn ethanol, while somewhat better now than 20 years ago, is not impressive. The
fossil fuels used to produce, harvest, and transport corn cancels out much of the
energy savings resulting from the ethanol. Biofuels produced from waste materials
such as sugar cane waste (bagasse), might improve the energy and economic balance, but true breakthroughs remain elusive.
One of the most obvious connections between water, food, and energy is dams.
Dams are constructed for hydropower, irrigation, water supply, flood control, aquaculture, navigation, and recreation. Hydropower, regulated mainly by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, is technically a non-consumptive water use, but can
nevertheless displace water resources in time and space, altering the natural flow
regime of a river. Reservoirs created by dams often flood fertile valleys, removing
those lands from cultivation. But the water held by them may be used to propagate
fish or irrigate crops, thereby improving agricultural production in other ways.
Thermal power plants tell a different story. While the water intensity—how much
water it takes to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity—of US thermal power plants
has declined in recent years, nearly one-third of recent thermal capacity additions
(new power plants) requiring cooling has occurred in Texas and California, two dry
western states. The decline in water intensity is motivated not so much by forwardlooking nexus thinking as by economic and pollution control dynamics that make
older, less efficient power plants less economically competitive. Thermal discharges
from most of these plants, some 1100 in total, are covered by the EPA’s Steam
6 See USDA, Prices Received for Corn by Month at https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/
graphics/data/pricecn.txt 11/29/2018.
7 See USDA, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, WASDE 584 (2018) p 12, U.S.
corn and grain supply and use, https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/latest.pdf.
8 US Governance
to agriculture typically increases water use and pollution. First-generation biofuels
make up over 99% of the biofuels feedstock, and expansion of demand for them in
the USA resulted in food price volatility in 2008 and 2010-2011 (Wise and Cole
2015). Corn prices reported by the USDA oscillated from a high of $7.60 per bushel
in August 2012 to a low of $3.15 per bushel in November 2017.
6
In 2018, the USDA
recorded that 38% of US corn production volume was used for ethanol production,
up from 14% in 2007 when demand first began increasing to meet the RFS.
7
However, in 2018 the amount of corn dedicated to ethanol production declined for
the first time since 2012. In 2015, the Department estimated that the RFS and similar
targets in other countries with aggressive biofuel goals could result in some
32–42 million additional acres of land devoted to first-generation biofuel production
worldwide. Not surprisingly, biofuels mandates can impact domestic production
practices, as farmers respond to price signals in the commodities markets and plant
more crops for use as biofuels feedstocks.
A second reason biofuels remain controversial is that their ability to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions is questionable, especially with current technology.
Energy balance, a common metric for measuring the energy benefits of biofuels,
compares the total energy needed to produce one unit of fuel to the total energy
output of that unit of fuel. As Saundry (2019) noted recently, the energy balance of
corn ethanol, while somewhat better now than 20 years ago, is not impressive. The
fossil fuels used to produce, harvest, and transport corn cancels out much of the
energy savings resulting from the ethanol. Biofuels produced from waste materials
such as sugar cane waste (bagasse), might improve the energy and economic balance, but true breakthroughs remain elusive.
One of the most obvious connections between water, food, and energy is dams.
Dams are constructed for hydropower, irrigation, water supply, flood control, aquaculture, navigation, and recreation. Hydropower, regulated mainly by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, is technically a non-consumptive water use, but can
nevertheless displace water resources in time and space, altering the natural flow
regime of a river. Reservoirs created by dams often flood fertile valleys, removing
those lands from cultivation. But the water held by them may be used to propagate
fish or irrigate crops, thereby improving agricultural production in other ways.
Thermal power plants tell a different story. While the water intensity—how much
water it takes to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity—of US thermal power plants
has declined in recent years, nearly one-third of recent thermal capacity additions
(new power plants) requiring cooling has occurred in Texas and California, two dry
western states. The decline in water intensity is motivated not so much by forwardlooking nexus thinking as by economic and pollution control dynamics that make
older, less efficient power plants less economically competitive. Thermal discharges
from most of these plants, some 1100 in total, are covered by the EPA’s Steam
6 See USDA, Prices Received for Corn by Month at https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/
graphics/data/pricecn.txt 11/29/2018.
7 See USDA, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, WASDE 584 (2018) p 12, U.S.
corn and grain supply and use, https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/latest.pdf.
8 US Governance