Economics of Bioenergy

Call for Papers

There has been world-wide support for the production and use of renewable energy sources, especially through major policy initiatives relating to climate change and bioenergy. A few examples of these policy supports include the United States' Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) and the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009 (H.R. 2454), Brazil's 2009 National Climate Change Policy, Canada's 2006 Renewable Fuels Regulations, and the European Union's Energy and Climate Change Package, adopted in 2009. The rationales behind these policies have been multifold, ranging from less reliance on imported fuels, reducing energy prices, and improving the rural economy to mitigating climate change. Some have argued that bioenergy has not delivered on its promise of energy security and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the case of field crops utilized to produce biofuels, bioheat, and biopower. The economic and environmental consequences of this bioenergy expansion have not been fully understood, primarily because bioenergy markets are not well developed and still in flux. The main objective of this special issue is to better understand the emergence of bioenergy markets and explore the direct or indirect consequences of the expansion of this alternative energy source on the rural economy, energy, and commodity markets, as well as associated environmental impacts at the country, regional, or global level. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Economics of bioenergy crops
• Positive and negative impact of bioenergy expansion on agricultural and energy markets, land use, and/or the environment
• Economic and welfare analysis of bioenergy support policies
• Bioenergy and food security, for example, the impact of bioenergy on food prices
• Sustainability of bioenergy production
• Impact of environmental policies on the economic feasibility of bioenergy production
• Bioenergy's potential contribution to climate change mitigation

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/econ/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/econ/ecb/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Amani Elobeid, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1070, USA

Guest Editors

• Miguel Carriquiry, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1070, USA
• Silvia Secchi, Department of Agribusiness Economics, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901-4410, USA
• T. Edward Yu, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-4518, USA