Biomass commercialisation - economic & environmental implications
Biomass commercialisation - economic & environmental implications
Published 1 March, 2020
[Biomass] is a trending subject because there is an unprecedented interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions due to global warming and climate change.
Onur Boyabatli
Associate Professor of Operations Management
In brief
- Global warming and climate change have created an unprecedented global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in energy production. Biomass or organic matter, which is a renewable energy source that can replace fossil fuels in energy production is gaining popularity.
- While higher biomass demand or biomass price always increases the value of biomass commercialisation, these changes are not necessarily environmentally beneficial as they may increase the emissions associated with biomass commercialisation.
- Imposing an export tax is the right move in the growth stage of the biomass industry when the biomass demand is relatively low because a higher price is both economically and environmentally superior.
Associate Professor Onur Boyabatli from SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business offers his insights into a joint pioneering study on the economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialisation in the agricultural processing industries.
Global warming and climate change have created an unprecedented global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in energy production. Biomass, or organic matter, which is a renewable energy source that can replace fossil fuels in energy production is gaining popularity. Consequently, commercialising agricultural residues as biomass is gaining momentum in many countries.
In a pioneering study, Onur Boyabatli, Associate Professor of Operations Management and DBS Sustainability Fellow at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, together with Assistant Professor of Operations Management Buket Avci, and PhD student Li Bin, studied the economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialisation in agricultural processing industries.
In this podcast, he shares his insights into this trending subject and the policy implications of their research findings.
Additional information for reference:
- Economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialisation in agricultural processing - by Bin Li, Onur Boyabatli, Buket Avci.