Published Date
Journal of Forest Economics December 2013, Vol.19(4):432–449,doi:10.1016/j.jfe.2013.10.001 Forests, wood and climate: New results in forest sector modeling
Author
Alexander Moiseyev a,,,
Birger Solberg a
A. Maarit I. Kallio b
aDepartment of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Science, Ås, Norway
bMETLA (Finnish Forest Research Institute), Vantaa, Finland
Received 20 November 2012. Accepted 15 October 2013. Available online 17 November 2013.
Abstract This study examines the effects of different coal, natural gas and carbon emission prices and market situations on the use of wood for electricity and heat production in the European Union. The analysis is carried out using the global forest sector model EFI-GTM expanded to cover electricity and heat production from wood, coal, natural gas, wind and solar energy. Analysis shows that with low coal and gas prices, use of wood for energy will be limited to low cost logging residues. With high coal, and especially natural gas prices, industrial wood also comes to be used for energy. At a carbon price of 100 €/tCO2, some 32 Mm3of industrial wood, in addition to 224 Mm3of logging residues, are projected to be used for electricity and heat in the EU region (including Norway and Switzerland) in 2030. The relatively low quantity of industrial wood used by the energy sector despite the collapse of the use of coal is explained by the fact that under high CO2prices, other energy forms like natural gas, solar and wind energy become more and more competitive. However, the amount of industrial wood used for energy may substantially increase with subsidies for using wood for electricity and heat, even with relatively low carbon prices. With a high coal and gas price and a carbon price of 100 €/t, a subsidy of 30 €/MWh to the wood based and coal with wood co-firing electricity production will have a significant impact on the European wood based sector. Depending on the development of the market demand for forest industry products, such a subsidy may cause a 10–12.5% reduction in forest products production, a 6–9% increase in harvest level, about 30–60% increase in the pulpwood prices, and a 6–9 fold increase of wood imports in the EU, compared to the respective case without a subsidy in 2030. Keywords
Published Date
Biomass and Bioenergy November 2011, Vol.35(11):4570–4580,doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.06.028 ‘Biofuels and Bioenergy: Challenges and Opportunities’ Proceedings of a joint workshop of IEA Bioenergy Tasks 29, 31 and 39, August 2006, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Author
Dominik Röser,
Lauri Sikanen
Antti Asikainen
Heikki Parikka
Kari Väätäinen
Finnish Forest Research Institute, PO Box 68, FI 80101 Joensuu, Finland
Received 9 May 2011. Accepted 14 June 2011. Available online 7 July 2011.
Abstract
At present, the utilization of timber in the Northern part of the Scottish Highlands is low due to a lack of a wood utilizing industry. As a consequence, the majority of forest owners do not receive any income from timber and in some cases stumpage prices can even be negative. At the same time, increasing prices of oil, gas and electricity pose a great challenge for local industries and homeowners. The establishment of wood fueled heating systems is therefore expected to improve the situation and at the same time create a market for the local timber resources. Consequently, a local energy source to produce heat and electricity at a competitive price would have positive benefits for both local industries and forest owners. Due to the current lack of competition, roundwood could be chipped for fuel, which has many associated benefits compared to the harvesting and chipping of logging residues. It is the aim of this research to apply existing Finnish know-how in regards to wood fuel harvesting in order to develop and investigate the price level of sustainable and local wood fuel supply chains.
To determine the most suitable supply chain for forest fuels, various research methods were applied. An estimation of the forest resources in the Wick area was the first step of the research. The different cost components of the supply chain such as cutting, forwarding and chipping were then calculated based on Finnish experiences and adapted to conditions in Northern Scotland. Detailed transportation distance calculations and cost of transportation were calculated using GIS tools. Of the various supply chain designs considered, chipping at the landing seems to be the most suitable option. Chipping the roundwood at a central terminal would also be feasible; however, a suitable site would have to be identified since chipping of the material at the heating plant is not an option. Calculations indicate that forest chips can be delivered starting from approximately 20 € MWh−1within a 50 km transportation distance when chipping is at roadside. If the transportation distance is 100 km wood chips could be delivered at approximately 23 € MWh−1. Results from the GIS analysis indicate that a sufficient supply of raw material will be available in the future. According to these calculations forest fuels can be a competitive energy source for heat and electricity production in Northern Scotland. Highlights ► Feasibility of forest biomass for energy in the Scottish Highlands was investigated. ► Forest biomass is logistically and economically feasible. ► The area has a favorable position regarding increased utilization of forest biomass. Keywords
Four commonly used estimation methods were employed to fit the three-parameter Weibull and Johnson's SB distributions to the tree diameter distributions of natural pure and mixed red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) – balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands, respectively, in northeastern North America. The results indicated that the Weibull and the Johnson's SBdistributions were, in general, equally suitable for modeling the diameter frequency distributions of this forest type, but the relative performance directly depended on the estimation method used. In this study, the linear regression methods for Johnson's SB were found to give the lowest mean Reynolds' error indices. The conditional maximum likelihood for Johnson's SB and the maximum likelihood estimation for Weibull produced comparable results. However, moment- or mode-based methods were not well suited to the observed diameter distributions that were typically positively skewed, reverse-J, and mound shapes.
In an extensive series of trials with open-pollinated families of loblolly pine (Pinus taedaL.), resistance to fusiform rust disease (caused by Cronartium quercuum (Berk.) Miyabe ex Shirai f. sp. fusiforme) at individual test sites was relatively unpredictable for the families deemed most resistant. The most resistant families were also the most stable for performance across test sites, with stability defined as the slope of the regression of family means for rust infection versus site means for rust infection. A family's R-50 value (its predicted rust infection level when the site mean infection is 50%) was correlated to its stability parameter or slope (r = 0.78). On average, any one family's level of infection (% galled) was reasonably predictable for any given infection level at a given site; the average coefficient of determination (r2) was 0.78 for the regression of family means for rust infection versus site means for rust infection. However, the six most stable families for resistance had the lowest r2 values (average r2 = 0.58). We speculated that the lower predictability for the most resistant families was due to interactions of specific resistance genes in these families and corresponding avirulence and (or) virulence levels in the pathogen populations that may differ among sites. Although the predictability of the individual resistant families was relatively low, if these families were bulked into a resistant seed lot, they performed in a more predictable manner with r2 = 0.74 for the regression of the bulk mean versus site means. Bulks of four to six highly resistant families appeared to be a good solution to obtain stable and predictable performance across a range of sites.
Recent studies with early-successional conifers have shown a correlation between changes in light regimes and changes in needle morphology. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that needles of late-successional conifers also respond to increased irradiance. We compared needle morphology of three co-occurring conifers, grand fir (Abies grandis(Dougl. ex D. Don) Lindl.), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.), and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.). Morphological characteristics were examined for 4 years across three light environments: (1) open-canopy stands with 64% transmittance, (2) stands with 63% transmittance after a partial overstory removal treatment, and (3) closed-canopy stands with 29% transmittance. Needle width and length differed by year, but not by light environment. Mean stomatal density differed across years for all three species and increased with increasing irradiance for subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce. The number of mesophyll layers and the size of individual palisade mesophyll cells did not differ among the different light environments. The number of epidermis cell layers in each species was insensitive to changes in light environment and time. Our results indicate that these three conifers were unable to morphologically adapt their needles to an increase in light transmission caused by the partial removal of overstory canopies.
Competitive interactions among plants are largely determined by spatial proximity. However, despite their sessile nature, plants have the ability to avoid neighbors by growing towards areas with high resource availability and reduced competition. Because of this flexibility, tree canopies are rarely centered directly above their stem bases and are often displaced. We sought to determine how a tree's competitive neighborhood influences its canopy position. In a 0.6-ha temperate forest plot, all trees greater than 10 cm DBH (n = 225) were measured for basal area, height, canopy depth, and trunk position. Canopy extent relative to trunk base was determined in eight subcardinal directions, and this information was used to reconstruct canopy size, shape, and position. We found that trees positioned their canopies away from large neighbors, close neighbors, and shade-tolerant neighbors. Neighbor size, expressed as basal area or canopy area, was the best indication of a neighbor's importance in determining target tree canopy position. As neighborhood asymmetry increased, the magnitude of canopy displacement increased, and the precision with which canopies avoided neighbors increased. Flexibility in canopy shape and position appears to reduce competition between neighbors, thereby influencing forest community dynamics.
Two ophiostomatoid fungi, Ophiostoma clavigerum (Robinson-Jeffrey & Davidson) Harrington and Ophiostoma montium (Rumbold) von Arx, are known to be associated with the mycangia of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins. However, virtually nothing is known regarding the phoretic fungi carried on the external surface of the exoskeleton of this beetle. In this study, I compared the phoretic fungi of individual D. ponderosae with the fungi carried in their mycangia. As many beetles carried ophiostomatoid fungi on the exoskeleton as in the mycangia; however, the species of ophiostomatoid fungus carried phoretically on an individual beetle was not always the same as was carried in its mycangia. Ophiostoma montium was isolated more often from exoskeletal surfaces than from mycangia, while the reverse was true for O. clavigerum. It appears that O. clavigerum is highly adapted for mycangial dissemination, while O. montium is adapted to phoretic as well as mycangial dissemination. Ophiostomaips (Rumbold) Nannf. was phoretic on two beetles, indicating that cross-contamination with fungi from cohabiting Ipsspp. may sometimes occur. Several non-ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from exoskeletal surfaces, but none consistently so. All non-ophiostomatoid fungi isolated were common saprophytes often found in beetle-killed trees. Yeasts were also common and were isolated more often from the exoskeleton than from mycangia.
Source: In: Alavalapati, Janaki R.R.; Carter, Douglas R., eds. Competitiveness of southern forest products markets in a global economy: trends and predictions, proceedings of the Southern Forest Economics Workshop 2004; 2004 March 14-16; St. Augustine, FL. School of Forest Resources Conservation, University of Florida: 130-138.
Publication Series: Miscellaneous Publication
Description: West Virginia?s hardwood resource is large and diverse ranging from oak-hickory forests in the southern and western portions of the state to northern hardwood stands in the northeastern region. West Virginia also has a diverse group of primary hardwood- processing industries, including hardwood grade mills, industrial hardwood sawmills, engineered wood-product manufacturing facilities, rustic-fence plants, face-veneer operations, a hardwood plywood mill, and several pulpwood concentration yards that supply mills in Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia. Each of these primary hardwood-processing industries has specific roundwood requirements with respect to species and quality, resulting in diverse roundwood markets. We examine the diversity of West Virginia?s roundwood markets based on a survey of 30 logging and associated roundwood merchandising operations. The harvesting operations surveyed merchandised roundwood to an average of four markets each. However, the production of sawlogs or peeler logs appeared to be the primary driver of these harvesting operations. Other roundwood markets appear to be secondary and material is merchandised for these markets as profit opportunities emerge. Of the species harvested in West Virginia, yellow-poplar is the most versatile as it is used for sawlogs, peeler logs, and rustic fencing. Yellow-poplar also is the primary species used in the production of oriented strand board.
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Luppold, William; Alderman, Delton 2005. An Examination of Regional Hardwood Roundwood Markets in West Virginia. In: Alavalapati, Janaki R.R.; Carter, Douglas R., eds. Competitiveness of southern forest products markets in a global economy: trends and predictions, proceedings of the Southern Forest Economics Workshop 2004; 2004 March 14-16; St. Augustine, FL. School of Forest Resources Conservation, University of Florida: 130-138.
For further details log on website :
https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/20964
Source: Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the International Research Group on Wood Preservation, 2002 May 12-17, Cardiff, South Wales, UK. Stockholm, Sweden : IRG Secretariat, 2002. IRG/WP ; 02-20243: [6] pages.
Publication Series: Miscellaneous Publication
Description: Stress wave nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies are being used in our laboratory to evaluate the performance properties of engineered wood. These techniques have proven useful in the inspection of timber structures to locate internal voids and decayed or deteriorated areas in large timbers. But no information exists concerning NDE and important properties of wood composites exposed to decay fungi. For our pilot study on several types of wood composites, we examined the relationship between nondestructive stress wave transmission, decay rate and the bending properties of OSB exposed to the brown-rot fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum (MAD-617). The following measurements were taken: stress wave transmission time (pulse echo test method), static bending test (ASTM D3043-95), and decay (expressed as percent weight). Stress wave measurements correlated with strength loss and with increasing rate of fungal decay. Stress wave NDE has great potential as a method for inspection of wood composite load-bearing (in-service) structures, detection of decay in laboratory tests, assessment of chemical additives to improve wood composite durability, and prediction of long term composite performance.
Illman, Barbara L.; Yang, Vina W.; Ross, Robert J.; Nelson, William J. 2002. Nondestructive evaluation of oriented strand board exposed to decay fungi. Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the International Research Group on Wood Preservation, 2002 May 12-17, Cardiff, South Wales, UK. Stockholm, Sweden : IRG Secretariat, 2002. IRG/WP ; 02-20243: [6] pages.
For further details log on website :
https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/6394
