Abstract:
“During the last decade, the negative consequences of climate change have become more intense and severe. The substitution of gasoline with biofuels can potentially reduce global emissions and help mitigate these negative impacts. However, most studies concentrate on CO2 emissions and non-CO2 emissions, which have significantly larger global warming potential than CO2 emissions alone. Non-CO2 emissions account for more than 19 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. In this talk, we link the Global Trade Analysis Project Biofuels (GTAP-BIO) model and the Global Trade Analysis Project model with Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) and Greenhouse Gas emissions (GTAP-AEZ-GHG) model with the updated database incorporating non-CO2 emissions to analyze the impact of increased biofuel production on the global economy and emissions. This enables a more comprehensive and holistic analysis of the economic and environmental impacts of the substitution of gasoline with biofuels in various countries. We find that global GHG emissions decrease with increased biofuels production. However, emissions reduction is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. We also find that increased biofuel production increases the world GDP.”
Bio:
Maruf Morshed is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Energy, Business, and Finance at Penn State. He specializes in energy and environmental economics. His research includes renewable energy (biofuels), greenhouse gas emissions analysis, drought, and climate policy from both micro and macro perspectives by employing computable general equilibrium and machine-learning models.
He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Texas Tech University in 2023, a Master of Economics in Environmental Economics from the University of Dhaka in 2017, and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology in 2012. Prior to pursuing his doctorate, Maruf worked as an engineer in the power generation, pharmaceutical, and construction industries for six years.