Where is willow planted?

We have recently published a paper that studies the areas where willow has been planted in Sweden during the last 20 years. The paper is available in Biomass and Bioenergy, and this is the link:

Blas MOLA-YUDEGO and José Ramón GONZÁLEZ-OLABARRIA. 2010 Mapping the expansion and distribution of willow plantations for bioenergy in Sweden: Lessons to be learned about the spread of energy crops Biomass and Bioenergy 34:(4)442-448.

The paper analyses the spread of willow cultivation for bioenergy in Sweden, during the period 1986–2005, linked to the changes in the policies of promotion of wood-energy crops and to the local economic framework. To perform the study, a geostatistic method based on kernel analysis is applied, in order to identify the spatial grouping patterns of growers and plantations, and the areas where cultivation was successful. The analysis of the resulting figures shows that the development of an infrastructure and a market for willow chips are essential pre-conditions for the development of short rotation coppice for bioenergy. The results of this study confirm that probably the most important factor in the location of willow plantations is the existence of consumers that can guarantee a long-term demand for willow chips. The tools and methods presented, and its analysis, can provide a better understanding of the interactions between the biomass producers, the energy consumers and the different local and national actors.

For citing the figure:  Blas MOLA-YUDEGO and José Ramón GONZÁLEZ-OLABARRIA. 2010 Mapping the expansion and distribution of willow plantations for bioenergy in Sweden: Lessons to be learned about the spread of energy crops Biomass and Bioenergy 34:(4)442-448.

[Open access to pre-print]

Findings on the Finnish students' knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy

HALDER P, PIETARINEN J, HAVU-NUUTINEN S AND PELKONEN P. 2010. Young citizens’ knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy and future policy implications. Energy Policy 38: 3058–3066.

Abstract

In the past few years extensive discussions on bioenergy has been both positive and negative. In Europe, the image of bioenergy appears to be low with lack of broad public support. Previous studies show that younger people are unsure about many issues surrounding renewable energy. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy among pupils in North Karelia, Finland. Data drawn from 495 ninth grade students indicate that the majority of them lack in-depth knowledge about different renewable energy sources, including bioenergy. Only a small percentage has a ‘high’ level of knowledge about bioenergy and the majority indicates critical perceptions of it. Statistically significant gender differences are not apparent. Girls appear to be more knowledgeable than boys. Results also show a clear ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ difference in perceptions of bioenergy. Perceptions of urban respondents being more positive than that of their rural counterparts. Developing collaboration between future bioenergy policies and bioenergy education for younger citizens is necessary for their engagement in critical debates on bioenergy.

Keywords: Young citizens; Bioenergy; Policy

Two new articles about forest growth estimation in Finland

Our two new articles are now published online in Forest Ecology and Management.

The first one is about testing of traditional empirical growth models with large national forest inventory (NFI) data set with the SIMO simulation framework "Härkönen, S., Mäkinen, A., Tokola, T., Rasinmäki, J., Kalliovirta, J. Evaluation of forest growth simulators with NFI permanent sample plot data from Finland". The tested simulators included the same tree-level models that are currently used e.g. in MELA and MOTTI. The other tested simulators consisted of stand-level models and combination of tree- and stand-level ones.

The second one is "Härkönen, S., Pulkkinen, M., Duursma, R. and Mäkelä, A. Estimating annual GPP, NPP and stem growth in Finland using summary models", where a new process-based summary approach for forest growth estimation is tested with Finnish NFI data. As the approach proved to be a promising one, there will be further development and studies coming up related to this issue!