To enhance the use of biofuels is stated priority of EU and German energy policy. Reasons given for this priority inter alia include positive income effects for the rural areas. This paper uses the example of North Rhine-Westphalia to investigate rural areas’ possibilities to profit from...

The amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in 2004 has established an attractive support of using renewable resources for energy production, which since then has fuelled a rapid expansion of the competitive cropping of energy maize. The regionalised agricultural sector model RAUMIS...