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Economic and Environmental Assessment of Advanced Biofuels: Adoption under uncertainty, farmer willingness, and land use implications.
About the Candidate
Pralhad Burli is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies. His dissertation explores the economic and environmental implications of advanced biofuels in the United States. He is a research assistant for the US-India Consortium for Development of Advanced Biofuel Systems under the aegis of the U.S. Department of Energy. He is also a research assistant for a project, sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, which assesses the socioeconomic impacts of biofuel development on rural communities in the Southern United States. Pralhad has degrees in economics and accounting from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and the University of Mumbai, India respectively.
About the Dissertation
The production of biofuels offers the prospect of enhancing a country’s energy security and providing support to domestic economic activity by bolstering agricultural and allied sectors. Advanced biofuels can reduce the reliance on food-grain based first generation ethanol, replace part of our fossil fuel consumption, and potentially reduce environmental impacts through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This dissertation explores the development of switchgrass based bioenergy from economic, environmental, and policy perspectives.
Dissertation Committee
- Dr. Pankaj Lal
Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Studies (Chair) - Dr. Lora Billings
Acting Dean, College of Science and Mathematics - Dr. Ram Sewak Dubey
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Feliciano School of Business - Dr. Onil Banerjee
Natural Resource Economist, Inter-American Development Bank