Cameron Short

The Economic Feasibility of Crop Residues as Auxiliary Fuel in Coal-Fired Power Plants

Rising fossil fuel costs spark interest in crop residues as a renewable energy source. Residue costs for combustion in power plants are estimated in 1975 prices to evaluate their feasibility. Costs are estimated for farm production, transportation, and processing and handling at the energy recovery level. They are incorporated into an Iowa agricultural programming model which includes an electric utility sector. The model, including crop production, is solved for several scenarios—a base solution, energy price increases, and a sulfur constraint. Under these scenarios, crop residue replaces coal at 20%,40%, and 60% of the 1975 Btus consumed.

Effect of changing energy prices on commodity prices and farm income

Abstract Tatonnement programming is used to examine the effect of energy prices on commodity prices and farm income. This method uses a national interregional linear programming model in conjunction with demand equations for feedgrains, soybeans and wheat. This spatial programming model is solved iteratively with these demand functions using an algorithm based upon the Walrasian tatonnement process. While the model is static in nature, it indicates that once adjustment to a doubling of energy prices occurs returns to land will increase by 10·8%. Commodity prices will increase 24·1, 18·7 and 9·9% for feedgrains, wheat and soybean, respectively, and demand will decrease 2·2, 1·9, and 0·9% for these same three commodities.