Publications

Refereed papers

Anthoff, D., Rennert, K., Errickson, F., Prest, B., Rennels, L., Newell, R., Pizer, W., Kingdon, C., Wingenroth, J., Cooke, R., Parthum, B., Smith, D., Cromar, K., Diaz, D., Moore, F., Müller, U., Plevin, R., Raftery, A., Ševčíková, H., Sheets, H., Stock, J., Tan, T., Watson, M., Wong, T. 2022. Comprehensive Evidence Implies a Higher Social Cost of CO2. Nature.

Plevin, R.J., J. Jones, G. P. Kyle, A.W. Levy, M.J. Shell, and D.J. Tanner. 2022. Choices in land representation materially affect modeled biofuel carbon intensity estimates, J. Cleaner Production, 349.

Malins, C., Plevin, R., Edwards, R. (2020). How robust are reductions in modeled estimates from GTAP-BIO of the indirect land use change induced by conventional biofuels? J. Cleaner Production 258.

Plevin, R.J., Delucchi, M., O'Hare, M (2017). Do fuel GHG emissions intensity fuel standards mitigate climate change? Energy Policy 56:93-97.

Plevin, R. J. (2016). Assessing the Climate Effects of Biofuels using Integrated Assessment Models – Part 1: Methodological considerations. Journal of Industrial Ecology.

Searchinger, T., R. Edwards, D. Mulligan, R. Heimlich, and R. Plevin. 2015. Do biofuel policies seek to cut emissions by cutting food? Science 347(6229): 1420-1422.

Plevin, R.J., J. F. Beckman, A. Golub, J. Witcover, and M. O'Hare. (2015). Carbon accounting and economic model uncertainty of emissions from biofuels-induced land use change. Environmental Science & Technology 49 (5): 2656–2664.

Rajagopal, D., R. J. Plevin, G. Hochman, D. Zilberman. (2015). Multi-objective regulations on transportation fuels: Comparing renewable fuel mandates and emission standards. Energy Economics 49: 359–369.

Plevin, R. J., M. A. Delucchi, and F. Creutzig (2014). Response to “On the uncanny capabilities of consequential LCA” by Sangwon Suh and Yi Yang (Int J Life Cycle Assess, doi: 10.1007/s11367-014-0739-9). International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19(8): 1559-1560.

Creutzig, F., N. H. Ravindranath, G. Berndes, S. Bolwig, R. M. Bright, F. Cherubini, H. Chum, E. Corbera, M. Delucchi, A. Faaij, J. Fargione, H. Haberl, G. A. Heath, O. Lucon, R. J. Plevin, A. Popp, C. Robleda-Abad, S. Rose, P. Smith, A. Strømman, S. Suh, and O. Masera Cerutti (2014). Bioenergy and climate change mitigation: an assessment. GCB Bioenergy.

Plevin, R., M. Delucchi, and F. Creutzig (2014). Response to Comments on “Using Attributional Life Cycle Assessment to Estimate Climate-Change Mitigation . . . ” Journal of Industrial Ecology 8(3): 468-470.

Plevin, R. J., H. K. Gibbs, J. Duffy, S. Yui, and S. Yeh (2014). Agro-ecological Zone Emission Factor (AEZ-EF) Model (v47). Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Technical Paper No. 34. West Lafayette, Indiana: Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University. (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.35540)

Gibbs, H., S. Yui, and R. J. Plevin (2014). New Estimates of Soil and Biomass Carbon Stocks for Global Economic Models. Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Technical Paper No. 33. West Lafayette, Indiana: Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.

Plevin, R. J., M. A. Delucchi, and F. Creutzig (2014). Using Attributional Life Cycle Assessment to Estimate Climate-Change Mitigation Benefits Misleads Policy Makers. Journal of Industrial Ecology 18(1): 73-83. Recognized in 2022 as one of the "25 especially important papers published in the JIE since its founding."

Sims, R., R. Schaeffer, F. Creutzig, X. Cruz-Nunez, M. D'Agosto, D. Dimitriu, M. J. F. Meza, L. Fulton, S. Kobayashi, O. Lah, A. McKinnon, P. Newman, M. G. Ouyang, J. J. Schauer, D. Sperling, G. Tiwari, A. A. Amekudzi, Bsmc Borba, H. Chum, P. Crist, H. Hao, J. Helfrich, T. Longden, A. F. P. de Lucena, P. Peeters, R. Plevin, S. Plotkin, R. Sausen, and Working Group III, Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change. 2014. Transport.

Smith, P., M. Bustamante, H. Ahammad, H. Clark, H. M. Dong, E. A. Elsiddig, H. Haberl, R. Harper, J. House, M. Jafari, O. Masera, C. Mbow, N. H. Ravindranath, C. W. Rice, C. R. Abad, A. Romanovskaya, F. Sperling, F. N. Tubiello, G. Berndes, S. Bolwig, H. Bottcher, R. Bright, F. Cherubini, H. Chum, E. Corbera, F. Creutzig, M. Delucchi, A. Faaij, J. Fargione, G. Hansel, G. Heath, M. Herrero, R. Houghton, H. Jacobs, A. K. Jain, E. Kato, O. Lucon, D. Pauly, R. Plevin, A. Popp, J. R. Porter, B. Poulter, S. Rose, A. D. Pinto, S. Sohi, B. Stocker, A. Stromman, S. Suh, J. van Minnen, and Working Group III, Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change. 2014. Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU).

Rajagopal, D. and R. J. Plevin (2013). Implications of market-mediated emissions and uncertainty for biofuel policies. Energy Policy 56: 75-82.

Creutzig, F., A. Popp, R. Plevin, G. Luderer, J. Minx and O. Edenhofer (2012). Reconciling top-down and bottom-up modeling on future bioenergy deployment. Nature Climate Change 2.

Plevin, R. J., M. O'Hare, A. D. Jones, M. S. Torn and H. K. Gibbs (2010). The greenhouse gas emissions from market-mediated land use change are uncertain, but potentially much greater than previously estimated. Environmental Science & Technology 44(21): 8015-8021.

Lemoine, D. M., R. J. Plevin, A. S. Cohn, A. D. Jones, A. R. Brandt, S. E. Vergara and D. M. Kammen (2010). The climate impacts of bioenergy systems depend on market and regulatory policy contexts. Environmental Science & Technology 44(19): 7347-7350.

Fargione, J., R. J. Plevin and J. Hill (2010). The Ecological Impact of Biofuels. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 41.

Brandt A.R., R.J. Plevin and A.E. Farrell (2010). Dynamics of the oil transition: Modeling capacity, depletion, and emissions. Energy 35(7): 2852-2860.

Hertel, T. W., Golub, A., Jones, A. D., O'Hare, M., Plevin, R. J., & Kammen, D. M. (2010) Global commodity trade analysis identifies significant land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions linked to U. S. corn ethanol production. BioScience 60(3) 223-231.

Plevin, R. J. (2009). Modeling Corn Ethanol and Climate: A critical comparison of the BESS and GREET models. Journal of Industrial Ecology 13(4).

O'Hare, M., Plevin, R. J., Martin, J., Hopson, E., Jones, A. D., & Kendall, A. (2009), Proper accounting for time increases crop-based biofuels' greenhouse gas deficit versus petroleum. Environmental Research Letters 4(024001).

Plevin, R. J. and S. Mueller (2008). The effect of CO₂ regulations on the cost of corn ethanol production. Environmental Research Letters 3(024003).

Yeh, S., A. E. Farrell, R. J. Plevin, A. H. Sanstad and J. Weyant (2008). Optimizing U.S. Transportation Wedges: What We Learn from a Bottom-up Model. Environmental Science & Technology 42(22), 8202-8210.

Farrell, A. E., R. J. Plevin, B. T. Turner, A. J. Jones, M. O'Hare, and D. K. Kammen (2006). Ethanol Can Contribute to Energy and Environmental Goals. Science 311: 506-508.

Works in progress

Posen, I. D., R. J. Plevin, I. L. Azevedo, P. Jaramillo and W. M. Griffin (in review). "Flexibility in Petroleum Product Mix Undermines Greenhouse Gas Benefits from Biofuel Policies."

Book chapters

Plevin, R. J. (2017) Biofuels, Land use change and the limits of life cycle analysis. Bioenergy and Land Use Change. Z. Qin, U. Mishra and A. Hastings (eds.), American Geophysical Union Books.

O'Hare, M. and R. J. Plevin. (2017). Lessons from the ILUC phenomenon. In Handbook of Bioenergy Economics and Policy, Volume II, edited by M. Khanna and D. Zilberman: Springer Publishers.

Plevin, R. J. and D. M. Kammen (2013) Indirect Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Biofuels. In: Levin S.A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, second edition, Volume 4, pp. 293-297. Waltham, MA: Academic Press.

Reports and articles

Plevin, R.J. (2015) Comments on modeling biofuel-induced land-use change emissions. Prepared for the Union of Concerned Scientists. (Submitted to the Oregon State Dept. of Environmental Quality.)

O'Hare, M. and R. J. Plevin (2011). When Biofuels Climate Policy Turns into a Can of Worms. Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, 2011 Research Conference. Washington, DC.

Plevin, R. J., H. K. Gibbs, J. Duffy, S. Yui and S. Yeh (2011). Agro-ecological Zone Emission Factor Model (preliminary report). Report to the California Air Resources Board.

O'Hare, M., M. Delucchi, R. Edwards, U. Fritsche, H. Gibbs, T. Hertel, J. Hill, D. Kammen, D. Laborde, L. Marelli, D. Mulligan, R. Plevin and W. Tyner (2011). Comment on "Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies" by Kim and Dale: statistical reliability and the definition of the indirect land use change (iLUC) issue. Biomass and Bioenergy 1(3).

Plevin, R. (2011). Future Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use by R. Schubert, H.J. Schellnhuber, N. Buchmann, A. Epiney, R. Griesshammer, M. Kulessa, D. Messner, S. Rahmstorf, and J. Schmid. Journal of Industrial Ecology.

Plevin, R. J. (2010). Life Cycle Regulation of Transportation Fuels: Uncertainty and its Policy Implications. Energy and Resources Group, University of California - Berkeley. Ph.D. dissertation, 228 pp.

Winebrake, J. J., E. Green, J. J. Corbett, P. Meyer and R. J. Plevin (2010). Appendix G: Life cycle analysis and public health assessment of biofuel production, transportation, and use in New York State in Renewable Fuels Roadmap and Sustainable Biomass Feedstock Supply for New York--Final Report, Pace Energy and Climate Center and NY State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Plevin, R.J. (2010), Comments on US EPA's final rulemaking for the Renewable Fuel Standard. Prepared with the support of National Wildlife Federation.

Plevin, R.J., M. O'Hare (2009), Comments submitted to US EPA on the proposed rulemaking for the Renewable Fuel Standard. Prepared with the support of National Wildlife Federation.

Unnasch, S., R. Wiesenberg, S. T. Sanchez, R. J. Plevin, A. Brandt and S. Mueller (2009). Assessment of Life Cycle GHG Emissions Associated with Petroleum Fuels, Life Cycle Associates Report LCA-6004-3P. Prepared for New Fuels Alliance Alliance

Mueller, S. and R.J. Plevin. (2008). Global Warming Intensity of Ethanol. BioCycle. 49(1): p. 50.

Turner, B.T., R. J. Plevin, M. O'Hare, and A. E. Farrell (2007). Creating Markets for Green Biofuels: Measuring and improving environmental performance. Research Report, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, University of California. Prepared for Natural Resources Defense Council.

Kammen, D. M., A. E. Farrell, R.J. Plevin, A. D. Jones, M. A. Delucchi, and G. F. Nemet. (2007). Energy and Greenhouse Impacts of Biofuels: A Framework for Analysis. In OECD Research Round Table: Biofuels: Linking Support to Performance. S. Perkins, ed. Paris, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Plevin, R. J. and S. Mueller (2007). Producing Ethanol for Low-Carbon Fuel Markets, Ethanol Producer Magazine, May 2007.

Farrell, A.E., D. Sperling, A.R. Brandt, A. Eggert, B.K. Haya, J. Hughes, B.M. Jenkins, A.D. Jones, D.M. Kammen, C.R. Knittel, M.W. Melaina, M. O'Hare, and R.J. Plevin, 2007. A Low-Carbon Fuel Standard for California, Part 2: Policy Analysis - FINAL REPORT.

Farrell, A.E., D. Sperling, S.M. Arons, A.R. Brandt, M.A. Delucchi, A. Eggert, B.K. Haya, J. Hughes, B.M. Jenkins, A.D. Jones, D.M. Kammen, S.R. Kaffka, C.R. Knittel, D.M. Lemoine, E.W. Martin, M.W. Melaina, J.M. Ogden, R.J. Plevin, B.T. Turner, R.B. Williams and C. Yang, 2007. A Low-Carbon Fuel Standard for California, Part 1: Technical Analysis - FINAL REPORT

R. Plevin, M. Chester, D. Rajagopal, and D. Kammen (2007). Biopower and Waste Conversion Technologies for Santa Barbara County, California, Report for the Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council.

Plevin, R. J. (2006). California Policy Should Distinguish Biofuels by Differential Global Warming Effects, Master's Paper, Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

Plevin, R. J. and D. Donnelly (2004). Tapioca Starch Power in Thailand - Converting Waste to Energy and Profit. Renewable Energy World.

Greacen, C., C. S. Greacen, R. J. Plevin (2003). Net Metering Comes to Thailand. REFOCUS.

Pouliot, Y., Bernstein, J., Plevin, R., Automated Filtering of Sequence Analysis Results Using Decision Support Technology, 2nd Annual Conference on Computational Genomics, 1998.

Lewis, J. W., Plevin, R. J., Wheeler, D. B., GEN-X: Generic Expert System, Information Science Laboratory Report, General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY, 1983.