Wood as an Alternative Energy Source in Europe

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Wood as an Alternative Energy Source in Europe
Mr. Evgeniy Nadezhdin UNECE Regional Adviser on
Energy
Seminar Sustainable Development National
Plan and Replication of the project Results
5 December 2006 Minsk
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Wood Energy, why are we talking about? Because
forests are nice Energy stocks
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• and if something goes wrong, the negative effect
  is very limited in time and space.
• Wood energy, why is everybody else talking about?
  
• The political frame
• Climate protection (Kyoto protocol commitments,
  Johannesburg Implementation plan, International
  conference on renewable energies (Bonn) etc.)
• Sustainable energy supply

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• In Europe
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• EC Strategy and action plan on
• Renewable energy sources
• EU Directive 2001/77/EC
• Ministerial conference on Environment in Europe
• European directive on wood waste

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• Will there be enough Wood
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• if wood energy develops throughout the UNECE
  region?
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• State of the forests within the UNECE
• Forest resource assessment (FAO) in 2005
• Annually growing forest area
• Increasing growing stock
• -Perpetual availability of the raw material due
  to sustainable management of the natural
  resources.

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• Three market trends point to the opportunity to
  expand biomass fuel markets.
• 1) Wood is currently available in many regions
  for less than half the cost of fossil fuel on a
  delivered Toe basis. In many areas, the supply of
  low-grade timber and chips is large and demand is
  small.
• 2) Rapid fluctuations in energy prices over the
  last few winters has stimulated many industries
  to look for a more stable fuel supply. The price
  of wood fuel has fluctuated little over the last
  10 to 15 years.

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• Conclusions
• Fuelwood is not a panacea and can not assure
  the entire energy supply, but can help to
  diversify the national energy portfolio.
• Over the threshold of 40 per barrel crude oil
  wood energy is economically competitive without
  subsidies.
• Raw material price for wood will remain stable
  as the resource is still increasing in volume and
  surface due to sustainable forest management.
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• Conclusions
• Energy markets world-wide may become more stable
  due to a large number of energy suppliers
  compared to the current situation.
• International bio-energy trade will increase
• New markets may generate substantial income
  sources for relatively poor world regions.
• It is easy to store and serves perfectly as
  standby energy source to accommodate less
  permanent and less constant energy sources (e.g.
  wind/solar).

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• Conclusions
• The development in the wood energy sector has a
  positive trend. The magnitude of future
  development will largely depend on external
  factors like remaining high oil prices,
  (environmental and economical) political
  decisions at the local, national regional and
  international levels.

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• Thank you .