Analysis of the energy wood supply chain
The European Union has set ambitious targets regarding energy production from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In addition to wind, solar and geothermal power, Europe's energy needs can also be met by biofuel. Biofuels are derived from biomass, such as wood, agricultural crops, food waste, etc. In an effort to promote the adoption of RES, the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme funded a 3-year R&D project entitled ECHAINE. The Department of Bioenergy of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) led a team including nine other research institutes on an investigation of the viability of wood as an RES. SLU and its partners performed a detailed energy analysis of the entire wood supply chain. They focused on wood chips, logging residues and other usable remnants from the logging industry. Data was collected on the energy expended during the production, collection, processing, transportation and use of these materials. SLU then calculated the Energy Return On Investment (EROI), a ratio of how much energy is delivered to what energy was consumed to deliver it. The EROI results revealed that bundling together logging residue was more efficient than wood chips or loose logging residue due to the higher energy density achieved. In general, the energy losses were encouragingly low, especially in richly forested northern Member States like Sweden and Finland. SLU also managed to identify segments of the supply chain where efficiency can be improved. The results of the analysis have been communicated to the research community and public via the project website, ECHAINE international workshops, conference presentations and scientific papers.
