Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …

Carbon Farming: A Preliminary Economic Analysis Of Carbon Credits For No-Till And Cover Crops, Drew Havens, Richard K. Perrin, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Cornhusker Economics

Summary Based on experimental data about the amount of carbon sequestered and estimated implementation costs, our preliminary results show that the average cost of sequestering carbon via no-till (about $22 per ton of CO₂e) appears to be much lower than the $51 per ton social value of sequestering that ton. In contrast, our preliminary results show that the average costs of sequestration via adoption of cover crops is much higher, about $60 per ton. Depending on how accurate soil carbon models are in predicting sequestration on individual fields to qualify them for enrollment, reimbursement costs for planting cover …

Multi-Criteria Evaluation Model For Classifying Marginal Cropland In Nebraska Using Historical Crop Yield And Biophysical Characteristics, Andrew Laws

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Marginal cropland is suboptimal due to historically low and variable productivity and limiting biophysical characteristics. To support future agricultural management and policy decisions in Nebraska, U.S.A, it is important to understand where cropland is marginal for its two most economically important crops: corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max). As corn and soybean are frequently planted in a crop rotation, it is important to consider if there is a relationship with cropland marginality. Based on the current literature, there exists a need for a flexible yet robust methodology for identifying marginal land at different scales, which …

Risk-Based Machine Learning Approaches For Probabilistic Transient Stability, Umair Shahzad

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Power systems are getting more complex than ever and are consequently operating close to their limit of stability. Moreover, with the increasing demand of renewable wind generation, and the requirement to maintain a secure power system, the importance of transient stability cannot be overestimated. Considering its significance in power system security, it is important to propose a different approach for enhancing the transient stability, considering uncertainties. Current deterministic industry practices of transient stability assessment ignore the probabilistic nature of variables (fault type, fault location, fault clearing time, etc.). These approaches typically provide a conservative criterion and can result in expensive …

Effects Of Post Eviction Resettlement On Land-Use And Cover Change In Uganda’S Oil Exploration Areas, Joseph Ssekandi, John Mburu, Oliver Wasonga, Laban Macopiyo, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Evaluation of the changes in land use and land cover change (LULCC) in respect to oil exploration across the Albertine region in Uganda has been focused around the exploration areas and protected areas, with no attention to the potential impacts of evictees’ activities on resettled areas. This study used LANDSAT images to analyze the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) among the period before eviction (2002 and 2005) at the climax of eviction and resettlements (2005-2011), and during the post-resettlement period (2011-2015) to quantify the impacts of resettlements on the environment. LANDSAT images were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE software …

Climate Change And The U. S. Energy Sector: Regional Vulnerabilities And Resilience Solutions, United States Department Of Energy, Office Of Energy Policy And Systems Analysis

US Department of Energy Publications

Executive Summary

Changes in climate create diverse challenges across the U.S. energy system. Some energy infrastructure assets have already suffered damage or disruption in services from a variety of climate-related impacts, such as higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and more severe weather events. In the absence of concerted action to improve resilience, energy system vulnerabilities pose a threat to America’s national security, energy security, economic wellbeing, and quality of life.

Building climate change resilience into our energy infrastructure planning is a challenging and complex undertaking. Planning horizons can span several decades (the typical service life of most energy assets), associated …

Three Essays On Biofuels, Drought, Livestock, And The Environment, Sunil P. Dhoubhadel

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay examines the impact of the 2012 drought and the biofuels mandate on the U.S. grain and livestock markets. A stochastic equilibrium displacement model is used to analyze the impact on eight commodity markets viz. beef, pork, poultry, corn, distillers’ grain (DG), soybean, soymeal, and ethanol. Among the eight markets, corn and beef are found to be the most vulnerable to drought. The use of Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits as an instrument to mitigate the impact of drought has limited effectiveness. A mandate waiver of about 23% is required to fully …

Reviewing Models Of Land Availability And Dynamics For Biofuel Crops In The United States And The European Union, Ruopu Li, Nicola Di Virgilio, Qingfeng Guan, Song Feng, Goetz M. Richter

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The biofuel-related land use in the USA and the EU has significantly expanded during the last decade; models have been used to estimate land availability and demand in these regions. This paper provides an overview of different land-use modeling practices applicable to first- and second-generation biofuels. We review the importance of different land categories for biofuels, modeling approaches (top-down/bottom-up) and their integration, data availability for calibration and validation, model scale, and uncertainty. Possible future changes of biofuel land use and research gaps and limitations are synthesized. Key issues are the lack of data for independent validation and the need for …

Gasoline: The Achilles' Heel Of U. S. Energy Security, Robert W. Weaver

US Department of Energy Publications

The United States must balance securing our energy future with protecting our environment from climate change. A holistic approach is required to solve this complex problem. We must reduce demand for petroleum, improve energy efficiency, and develop feasible alternative energy solutions to include emission capture technologies.

The United States remains the largest consumer of energy products in the world and is the second leading producer of green house gas (GHG) emissions. Our dependence on imported petroleum is undermining our control of our national security interests. Petroleum comprises 63% of the United States’ energy consumption, with the transportation sector accounting for …

An Affordable, Pratical Eco-House, Dave Fitzpatrick

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

An eco-house or zero-energy house is not a new concept- houses with extremely low impact on their surroundings and good use of local resources have been around for centuries. This particular eco-house is designed to offer full modern services and comforts while consuming very low energy and few expensive building materials. Ideally, someone would be able to use this thesis as a blueprint for actual construction.