Identifying trade-offs between socio-economic and environmental factors for bioenergy crop production: A case study from northern Kentucky

Abstract

Bioenergy crops can provide a reliable and adequate supply of biomass feedstocks to support the bioenergy industry. However, promoting bioenergy crops would require major change in land use and management practices that can have long term socio-economic and environmental impacts. Therefore, it is important to evaluate potential opportunities and challenges presented by bioenergy crop production. We developed a multi-objective optimization model to analyze trade-offs among various components of bioenergy crop production to help make better production decisions. Our model integrated sustainability dimensions including social, economic and environmental factors for bioenergy crop production. As bioenergy crop production may incorporate various objectives, we ran the model by optimizing one objective at a time to measure the magnitude of change in one objective with respect to change in other objectives given a set of constraints. In addition, our model had the ability to assess how trade-offs would be affected by chancing preferences for different factors in the production decisions. The model was applied for a four-county study area in northern Kentucky and it provided a regional examination for the potential of bioenergy crops for energy production. The model can serve as an effective tool for making bioenergy production planning and management decisions.