THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN ADDRESSING THE LONG-TERM PROBLEM OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL ENERGY AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

摘要

Commercial biomass is a technology that is of interest in the context of the formulation of a response to the issue of climate change, because it is a potential source of modern commercial fuels in which the carbon content of the fuel was originally obtained from the air. Thus, biomass has no net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO_2), the most prominent greenhouse gas. Biomass must compete with well established energy forms, in addition to other, emerging energy technologies, for market share. To win a significant market share, biomass technology must continue to improve. The degree of improvement will have a major influence on the role of biotechnology in addressing climate change. This paper examines the competition among technologies in a variety of markets, and explores conditions under which new markets for modern commercial biologically derived fuels could emerge. Important interactions with agricultural markets and land use and land cover are considered. The successful application of biotechnology to crop, pasture, and forest productivities is shown to be important. The availability of a complimentary energy technology like carbon capture and disposal technologies is shown to dramatically reduce the cost of stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases, as well as to open up the possibility of negative-emission energy production from biomass.