Potential Environmental Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Production

摘要

Bioenergy crops have the potential to improve the environment, increase rural incomes, and reduce Federal budget deficits and the U.S. trade imbalance. In the wake of the devastating Midwest floods, bioenergy crops may also offer a more robust crop for flood-prone regions. Bioenergy crops include annual row crops such as corn, herbaceous perennial grasses (herbaceous energy crops--HECs) such as switchgrass, and short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs) such as poplar. HECs are analogous to growing hay, harvesting the crop for energy rather than for forage. SRWCs typically consist of a plantation of closely spaced (2 to 3 meters apart on a grid) trees that are harvested on a cycle of 3 to 10 years.