Exploring the influencing factors of continuous crop residue supply: from the perspective of a sustainable and bioenergy
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Energy, Sustainability and Society
Open Access
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Exploring the influencing factors of continuous crop residue supply: from the perspective of a sustainable and bioenergy‑oriented crop cultivation Xin Long Xu1,2 , Hsing Hung Chen3 and Yi Li4*
Abstract Background: Crop residues are an important raw material for bioenergy. There is, however, obvious seasonality in crop harvests, and thus, a continuous supply of crop residues and its respective influencing factors should be investigated. Methods: In this paper, the impacts of geographical climatic conditions, characteristics of crops and the macroeconomic status exerted on the continuity of crop residue supply were analysed. Likewise, the effects of various factors on the supply of crop residues were examined. Results: The results indicate that planting scale, crop diversity, climatic conditions, and topography have a significantly positive impact on a continuous crop residue supply, whereas the planting structure, temperature square term, energy pressure, and the economic development level have a significantly negative one. Finally, a regression-based decomposition method was used to measure the contribution rate of each variable onto the inequalities in the continuous supply of crop residues, which confirms that the impact of characteristics of crops on its continuous supply was the highest. The economic development level is the most important factor that affects the inequalities in the continuity of crop residue supply. Conclusions: The above results were achieved by using different measurement methods, and based upon the findings obtained, this paper proposes policies and suggestions for ensuring sustainable and bioenergy-oriented crop cultivation. Keywords: Continuous crop residue supply, Bioenergy, Sustainability, Regression-based decomposition method Background As a result of the dual pressure caused by the scarcity of petrochemical energy and environmental pollution, countries have paid more and more attention to the development and use of bioenergy to replace fossil fuel energy [1–5]. Although the development of bioenergy *Correspondence: [email protected] 4 College of Business, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
has played a positive role in mitigating the global energy crisis and reducing environmental pollution [6], bioenergy is currently based primarily on economic “cash” crops such as grain or oil crops, which will not only threaten global food security but also aggravate poverty in some developing countries [7]. China has a large population with a relatively high population density [8]. Water resources are however significantly insufficient [9]. In the event that bioenergy is developed from crops, it will inevitably affect China’s food security and the sustainable development of animal husbandry. Crop residues can be
© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
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