John Clifton-Brown

Food vs. fuel: the use of land for lignocellulosic ‘next generation’ energy crops that minimize competition with primary food production

This review addresses the main issues concerning anticipated demands for the use of land for food and for bioenergy. It should be possible to meet increasing demands for food using existing and new technologies although this may not be easily or cheaply accomplished. The alleviation of hunger depends on food accessibility as well as food availability. Modern civilizations also require energy. This article presents the vision for bioenergy in terms of four major gains for society: a reduction in C emissions from the substitution of fossil fuels with appropriate energy crops; a significant contribution to energy security by reductions in fossil fuel dependence, for example, to meet government targets; new options that stimulate rural and urban economic development, and reduced dependence of global agriculture on fossil fuels. This vision is likely to be best fulfilled by the use of dedicated perennial bioenergy crops. We outline a number of factors that need to be taken into account in estimating the land area available for bioenergy. In terms of provisioning services, the value of biofuels is estimated at

Screening Miscanthus genotypes in field trials to optimise biomass yield and quality in Southern Germany

54.7‒

The development of MISCANFOR, a new Miscanthus crop growth model: towards more robust yield predictions under different climatic and soil conditions

330 bn per year at a crude oil price of

Variation in Miscanthus chemical composition and implications for conversion by pyrolysis and thermo-chemical bio-refining for fuels and chemicals

100 per barrel. In terms of regulatory services, the value of carbon emissions saved is estimated at

High resolution genetic mapping by genome sequencing reveals genome duplication and tetraploid genetic structure of the diploid Miscanthus sinensis.

56‒

Future energy potential of Miscanthus in Europe

218 bn at a carbon price of

Potential of Miscanthus grasses to provide energy and hence reduce greenhouse gas emissions

40 per tonne. Although global government subsidies for biofuels have been estimated at

Characterization of flowering time diversity in Miscanthus species

20 bn (IEA, 2010b), these are dwarfed by subsidies for fossil fuel consumption (

Genome-wide association studies and prediction of 17 traits related to phenology, biomass and cell wall composition in the energy grass Miscanthus sinensis

312 bn; IEA, 2010b) and by total agricultural support for food and commodity crops (

Environmental costs and benefits of growing Miscanthus for bioenergy in the UK

383.7 bn in 2009; OECD, 2010).