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Magazine article2008

новый бизнес

Olsson, Olle; Hillring, Bengt

Abstract

Although oil prices have more than halved since the all time high levels of mid-July, the current price level of $60-70 is still historically a very high price, further fuelling the interest in alternatives such as wood energy. The financial crisis could however reduce the will of governments to invest in subsidies for renewable energy, which could have a negative effect on wood energy markets. Demand for wood energy is however expected to remain high, especially in the heating market which is a sector that is often overlooked in the energy debate. The global wood pellet market continues to grow at an exponential rate with world production now at 10 million tons per annum and increasing demand from both small scale and large scale users. A wide range of projects aiming to produce transportation fuels from woody materials have also been announced in the wake of the criticism of grain-based ethanol production and palm oil biodiesel. The increasing demand for wood energy is now beginning to affect forest markets in general. Pulpwood, sawmill residues and recovered wood are some of the market segments where demand for wood energy has increased competition for raw materials. This is a positive development for the forest owner, since wood as a raw material will increase in value. Increased competition for raw material has generally been seen as a problem for the forest industry, but there are now signs of a changing attitude with forest companies and business organizations now developing a more proactive stance towards wood energy

Published in

Alternative Energy (Russia)
2008, number: 5-6, pages: 44-46

      SLU Authors

      • UKÄ Subject classification

      Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
      Renewable Bioenergy Research
      Forest Science

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/22800