Robert Larson - Life Cycle Assessment and the Renewable Fuel Standard

Robert will discuss potential impacts of the RFS2 program including life cycle assessment.

Robert Larson is the Associate Director of the Transportation and Climate Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is the division within EPA responsible for developing and assessing options to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector.

Bob Larson has spent 38 years working to improve automotive emission control.  For the past thirty-four years, his work for the US Environmental Protection Agency has spanned all aspects of EPA’s motor vehicle programs.  He has authored many regulations including in the 1970's the first federal fuel economy regulations and since then other regulations affecting sources ranging from chain saws to heavy-duty engines. For the past several years, Bob has focused his attention on greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, assessing impacts of various transportation sources and options for reducing them.  Currently Bob is the Associate Director of EPA's Transportation and Climate Division, the division within EPA responsible for developing and assessing options to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector.

Shashi Verma, Ph.D. - Production-Scale Carbon Sequestration Research: Corn-Soybean Cropping Systems.

Ongoing interdisciplinary studies on carbon sequestration in dryland and irrigated corn-based cropping systems at UNL will be discussed.

Dr. Shashi Verma, University of Nebraska – School of Natural Resources

Dr. Verma is a Charles Bessey Professor in the School of Natural Resources at UNL. His research interests include micrometeorology, carbon sequestration and evapotranspiration. For the past nine years, Dr. Verma has led an interdisciplinary research program on carbon sequestration at UNL. The goal of this research program is to improve our understanding of relevant biophysical factors controlling carbon sequestration in dryland and irrigated agroecosystems. Dr. Verma also collaborates with many scientists in North America and Europe to help synthesize results on carbon dioxide, water vapor and energy fluxes from a variety of ecosystems (e.g., agricultural crops, grasslands, forests).

Adam Liska, Ph.D. - Life Cycle Emissions Standards for Biofuels: Recommendations for Methods in the EPA RFS2

The emerging regulations under the Renewable Fuel Standard administered by the EPA will employ life cycle assessment (LCA) methods for regulating biofuel producers. Building on research into the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of corn-ethanol,  this presentation will discuss the scope of the RFS2 assessment, transparency and complexity in LCA, and the gasoline baseline.

Dr. Adam Liska, University of Nebraska – Biosystems Engineering

Dr. Adam Liska is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). He was a post-doc in Agronomy at UNL, and Physics at the University of Manitoba. He completed his Ph.D. in biology in 2003 at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, in Dresden, Germany, and his B.S. in biochemistry and biology at the UNL. He is currently studying the energy efficiency and net greenhouse gas emissions of various biofuel production systems. He teaches the introductory course to the Energy Sciences Minor at UNL.

Richard Perrin, Ph.D. - Combined Heat and Power – Economics of biofuel to reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in corn-ethanol production

Corn ethanol GHG emissions can be reduced by using biomass to replace natural gas and electricity.  Capital cost of conversion is substantial, and not generally profitable under current economic conditions. Modest increases in energy prices and carbon-related credits will make it feasible.

Dr. Richard Perrin, University of Nebraska – Agricultural Economics

Richard Perrin is Jim Roberts Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research and teaching activities have been related to agricultural productivity in the US, in developing countries, and in the Great Plains,  His recent research has focused on the economic implications of biofuels, including the potential of switchgrass as a biofuel, the local impacts of ethanol plants, the cost structure of recent ethanol plants, and the impact of the ethanol industry on various aspects of agriculture.