TOPIC 'Bioenergy' on Sep 30, 2008 (CEST)
Sweden to Supply Biomass to the Other Countries
Sweden, easily the greenest economy in Europe, has shown that forest biomass can be an efficient fuel, and now they believe they have found a way to better transport the product to other countries involving a less expensive technique.
The new way found to easily and more cost-effectively transport biomass is through a “lashed system” as opposed to pellets. Lashed branches from managed forests that have been harvested have a great opportunity to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions per hectare of forest area.
Lisa Erickson is a researcher who has been studying the transportation of forest biomass through a lashed system, and she has recently justified and outlined her findings from her PhD thesis to the Mid Sweden University. As well as reducing CO2 emissions, a lashed system of moving the biomass will provide more end product per hectare to the recipient than would a pellet system. This, of course, would have to do with the amount of biomass consumed in the production of pellets that would not occur from a straight lashing system.
Since Sweden doesn’t have oil, but has wood instead, they have learned to use it and control it to provide a responsible and realistic renewable energy plan. According to statistics, biomass provides 63 percent of Sweden’s renewably energy consumption. Sweden has a huge supply of forest fuel that is available to export and has been compared to being able to produce the amount of electricity needed by a country the size of Austria.
A Swedish producer of pulp and paper has also announced a project aimed at generating its own power needs from forest biomass and biofuels. Sodra Cell Varo intends on having the project completed by 2010 that also decreases the amount of bark required for combustion. Extra timber bark will be converted into biofuels and this will take the place of the company’s need for heating oil. The energy savings that is expected to result from this project could potentially lend power to 10,000 homes.
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
BascoTec Internet Limited
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