Question: From the data in Table 20.4: evaluate the trade-off between GHG emissions and NPV, with and without including the agroecosystem service of carbon sequestration. Discuss

From the data in Table 20.4: evaluate the trade-off between GHG emissions and NPV, with and without including the agroecosystem service of carbon sequestration. Discuss the feasibility of producing ethanol from corn versus switchgrass. Note that the ethanol plant processes corn or switchgrass from 10,000 acres of cultivated land. 

Table 20.4 Data for growing biomass and converting it into transportation fuels

Table 20.4 Data for growing biomass and converting it into transportation fuels [15]. Energy (gasoline gallon eq/unit) Activity Unit Corn with conventional till. Acre Corn without tillage Switchgrass without N fert. Switchgrass with N fert. Wind turbine Solar panel Corn ethanol Switchgrass ethanol GHG emission (kg COeq/unit) 6.83E+04 7.30E+04 5.67E+04 6.07E+04 Acre Acre Acre Unit 0 Unit 0 Plant 4.30E+07 Plant 5.00E+06 GHG uptake (kg CO eq/unit) 2.54E+03 2.48E+03 3.24E+03 3.23E+03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.27E+06 7.9E+01 8.02E+07 8.11E+08 Net present value ($/unit) 6.67E+02 5.87E+02 -4.88E+02 -5.31E+02 -3.01E+05 -7.23E+02 -6.88E+06 -9.17E+06

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Tradeoff between GHG emissions and NPV Table 204 shows the following tradeoffs between GHG emissions and NPV With carbon sequestration Corn ethanol NP... View full answer

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