An environmental and economic evaluation of carbon sequestration from pyrolysis and biochar application in China

In the past decade, China has more than doubled its consumption of fossil fuels resulting in the emission of substantial amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂), which are considered to be the main cause of climate change. To mitigate climate change and ensure the continued survival of life on earth, the current level of CO_2R emissions must be cut. This study establishes a price endogenous mathematical programming (Jiangxi Agricultural Sector Model) and incorporates bioenergy technologies such as ethanol, conventional co-firing and pyrolysis to examine how an agricultural province may contribute to bioenergy development and carbon sequestration. The results indicate that under moderate energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) prices, net electricity generation reaches 6.5 billion kWh annually. Net emission reduction is affected by market operations. At high GHG prices, pyrolysis and biochar application can sequester up to 4.74 million tons of CO_2R emissions annually. However, this measure fluctuates significantly when GHG prices vary. Our study shows that pyrolysis and biochar application provide significant environmental effects in terms of carbon sequestration.

Distribución de bienestar económico entre Estados Miembros ante distintas opciones de desacoplamiento en el marco de la nueva PAC - Consecuencias para España

<div>This paper makes use of an agricultural sector model to analyse welfare effects derived from different national implementation options of the CAP Reform 2003. It shows that agricultural prices developed more favourable in a full premium decoupling scenario, since agricultural production declines more pronounced compared to a partial decoupling scenario. The use of the partial decoupling mechanism helps Member States to distribute income into less favoured areas but is not the optimal policy choice. However, if other Member States follow the same path of reform, a ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ will most likely be observed: partial decoupling appears as the preferred option for individual Member States, since high domestic production and high producer prices would be expected, but this would lead to welfare losses for consumers and taxpayers.</div>

The Livestock Economy of Pakistan: An Agricultural Sector Model Approach

The Pakistan Agricultural Sector Model (PASM) developed by Davies et al. (1991) was modified to enhance the livestock sub-sector. Nutrient-based rations replaced feedstuff-based rations and dry matter minimum and maximum constraints (stomach capacity) were added. Several initial simulations were undertaken to examine the structure of the modified model and its impact across the crop and livestock sub-sectors. These simulations included relaxing exogenous livestock numbers and selected crop hectarage constraints, and requiring that green forage be fed in the season grown. Most importantly, the results demonstrated that fodder hectarage will grow with livestock numbers to insure that sufficient green forage is available seasonally. Two other analyses were performed to demonstrate the need to specify linkages between the crop and livestock sub-sectors. An analysis of transforming the livestock sub-sector from traditional to feedlot-based technology demonstrated that the reduced numbers of non-milking cattle needed for a given output of meat would provide the potential for increased production of various crops and other livestock products. Also, expanded cotton and Irri rice exports, hypothesised to occur through trade liberalisation from the Uruguay Round of the GATT, highlighted other inter-relationships between the crop and livestock sub-sectors. Greater production of both livestock and other crops might accompany the expansion of cotton production but less livestock feed would be available with expanded exports of Irri rice.