Ambitious targetThe financial dimension is fearHuge productivity gains weighed on pricesSometimes the timing is not to the appointmentNeed to keep some flexibility and stay pragmatic on investment opportunitiesHowever on the first two points Kouchner was very lowThe auto issue is organized in WashingtonPolitics must regain power with the banksHe described the peoples of the region Somali Dankalis OgadinesProfitsharing is one thing it is another the Government appeared for what it is iOn the night of January 8, 2007, very strong winds destroyed or damaged 75 million cubic metres of timber, the equivalent of a whole year of logging in the country. Disaster closer to just live the forest of the Landes (read below). "These damages are the worst affecting our forests," said a spokesman for the Swedish forest Agency (Skogsstyrelsen). However, the country is quickly able to recover from this natural disaster. How Of course, its powerful paper industry consumed a large part of the felled timber. But they are heating and electricity production plants which mainly used a non-negligible percentage of this natural raw material. Infrastructure that are at the forefront of technology. "The first oil crisis in the 1970s did us realize the interest that we could find to operate our forests to produce heat and energy", note Mathias Carlsson, a logistics officer specialized in forestry.
23 million hectares
The first thermal power plant using wood opened more than twenty years ago. "Our forest industry used all the available material." "We therefore began by burning the sawdust for the heat before using branches and stumps", recalls Gunnar Olofsson, the patron of Sveaskog, a public company that manages 4.4 million hectares of wooded area. With 23 million hectares of forest covering 60 of its territory, the Sweden has a vast natural resource. Before that laws require loggers of hothouse plants after their chainsaws. Even today, 45 of wood are used in energy production and more than 60 of central heating in this Scandinavian country currently come from the combustion of biofuel. The use of wood in this area has also fivefold since 1990, according to the Swedish bioenergy Association (Svebio).
Next year, the Sweden should thus cover 26 of its energy from renewable and non-fossil organic material needs, the equivalent of 160 terawatt hours (TWh). And each year, power from biofuel production capacity increased by an average of 3 to 5 TWh. "this phenomenon became possible due to the increase in prices for biomass." Ten years ago, this raw material was paid barely 120 crowns per megawatt-hour (MWh) Editor's note, the wood is billed by its energy production capacity and not its weight. This rate was too low to make a profitable activity logging, summarizes Martin Enqvist, the owner of Enqvist Skog, a company that buys trees on foot before you cut them for resale to thermal power plants. But for several years, prices have increased by 10 annually to reach today 160 to 210 kronor. This has allowed many to exploit forest owners the wood previously left in nature. "This market will not dry up any time soon. Quite the contrary...
Sustainable exploitation
The decision of the European Union to produce, by 2020, 20 of its energy needs from raw material renewable will result in the need to find 880 million additional biomass cubic metres, of which 250 million cubic metres from forests. This legislation "will represent a good business for the Sweden, recognizes Gunnar Olofsson. We will start to export wood in Great Britain and Germany chips this year. But we also sell our knowledge of forestry. In the next 20 years, the biomass market will explode. There is no question about that.
However, some pitfalls to be avoided. Because by collecting all of the cut trees, operators will take the risk of depleting the soils that feed on the nutrients contained in the branches. The risk is also to promote erosion which is normally prevented by the presence of strains. To work around these pitfalls, "we let the branches on the ground for at least six months so that the spines fall on Earth", says Mathias Carlsson. "And unlike Finns pulled everything, we not only harvest 30 of the roots of the trees on some test areas", outbid the pattern of Sveaskog. On the use of chemical fertilizers to accelerate the growth of shoots, "we do that once a century while farmers repeat the operation every year", says Gunnar Olofsson. Another concern, the expected application of biomass in Europe could also encourage wildlife imports of wood from little "Spectator" countries on the protection of the environment. The Sweden thus already buy many trunks Russian and Baltic. More and more forest owners, including in the countries of the East, however offer guarantees by submitting to the specifications very strict of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), an association of public utility who undertakes to ensure sustainable exploitation of forests.
The other countries of the European Union will have to quickly catch up to meet the new community standard renewable energy. The raw material is no shortage. "But systems should be put in place to encourage forest owners to sell their wood concludes Gunnar Olofsson." Europe also needs new thermal plants capable of burning wood. The clock is ticking. 2020, is tomorrow... \
