Life Cycle Boundaries and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Beef Cattle

Authors

Quentin M. Dudley, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

7-2012

Document Type

Article

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College of the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science, Major: Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering, Under the Supervision of Professor Adam J. Liska. Lincoln, Nebraska: June, 2012

Copyright (c) 2012 Quentin M. Dudley

Thesis released from embargo May 16, 2014.

Abstract

Beef cattle are estimated to directly contribute 26% of U.S. agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and future climate change policy may target reducing these emissions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of GHG emissions from U.S. feedlot beef cattle was conducted to compare methods of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a more complete evaluation of emissions. The inclusion of emissions from crop production for feed, associated land use change, and other minor factors nearly doubled GHG emissions associated with beef feedlots from the EPA Annual Inventory estimate of 1611 kgCO₂e hd^-1 yr^-1 to 3182 ± 167 kgCO₂e hd^-1 yr^-1. Feeding of coproducts from ethanol production is estimated to reduce feedlot emissions by 6%. Furthermore, inclusion of pasture and land use change emissions from the cow-calf stage of the animal life cycle nearly tripled GHG emissions compared to the feedlot LCA (6.0 to 16.67 ± 0.32 kgCO₂e kg^-1 beef). Despite use of expanded system boundaries in the LCA, U.S. beef cattle GHG emissions were lower than the majority of previous U.S. and international assessments of beef cattle. Nearly a 16-fold range in results can be found for U.S. beef using different system boundaries and assumptions. Use of LCA-driven carbon pricing on U.S. beef could reduce beef demand and associated beef GHG emissions by 2.7 to 21 Tg CO₂e yr^-1.

Advisor: Adam J. Liska