Abstract

Wood biomass for energy can be largely produced in northern Europe from forest land resulting from silvicultural practices and from agricultural land in the form of fast-growing plantations. The present paper estimates and compares the current regional potentials for wood biomass production attending to these sources. The data are based on spatialized estimates from previous models, largely based on empirical records concerning forest and plantation's productivity. The results show that 8.5 Mm(3) of wood biomass can be produced annually from plantations when using 5% of the total available agricultural land, and 58.5 Mm(3) from forest lands using current estimates of forest production. However, the results also show that a strategy for wood biomass resource management should be local rather than general: wood biomass potential from fast-growing plantations was larger in 19 regions than from forest resources (10 in Denmark, 6 in Norway and 3 in Lithuania) out of the 91 regions in the area included to this study. When considered together, northern Europe presents significant potential for wood biomass production for energy uses, and each country - and even region - should develop independent policy strategies of biomass generation in order to most efficiently realize their own potential for wood-based bioenergy. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Bioenergy; Short rotation forestry; Short rotation coppice; Energy crops; Land management; Energy policy

Published in

Biomass and Bioenergy
2017, Volume: 106, pages: 95-103

SLU Authors

• Dimitriou, Ioannis

  • Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all


UKÄ Subject classification

Renewable Bioenergy Research
Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.08.021

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/87625