Abstract for: System Dynamics Approach to Biofuels in Colombia

The biofuels production in Colombia is growing in recent years but low investment in refining capacity, crops and difficulties to transport the biofuel to the distribution centers are obstacles to fulfill the demand. In order to analyze these problems a System Dynamics model was constructed for learning about the system behavior and for understanding the response mechanisms to different policies from the production side. An analysis of the current government policies as far as incentives to refining facilities was developed in this paper. According to the model results, alternative or complementarily policies could be appropriated to accelerate the growth in the supply side of biofuels in Colombia.