A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ESTIMATING DELIVERED COST OF ENERGY FEEDSTOCKS

Abstract

Due to a large variation in the current research-based recommendations about economic or environmental cost-benefits, the ethanol industry’s sustainable development may be adversely influenced. Moreover, one of the most important considerations for sustainable development of the ethanol industry – economics of transportation is often overlooked. The primary objective of this paper is to explore economic feasibility of biofuels production in the state of Washington, and to report on the availability, collection and transportation costs of feedstocks for ethanol processing using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The GIS Network Analyst Tool is used to spatially analyze forest residue biomass within given haul time area from the ethanol processing plant with the capacity of 55 million gallons per year (MGY). Using census feature classification codes, speed limit