Wood as Energy Source Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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B iomass receives and stores energy from the sun. When burned, this energy is released as heat. Wood fuel (commonly referred to as fuelwood) serves a variety of heating purposes although the most common fuelwood-based practices around the world cooking and heating-especially in developing nations.

Calculating how much wood is harvested and burned each year is difficult to determine because fuelwood collection and use occurs predominantly through informal practices. As a result, there is a dearth of precise data on wood energy use. This stands in contrast to non-biomass energy sources such as oil and natural gas, which have been subject to more in-depth analysis.

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), biomass accounts for roughly 30 percent of the total energy consumed in developing nations with fuelwood accounting for approximately half of this amount or 15 percent of the total energy. Other common types of biomass include agricultural matter and animal dung. In some countries, dependence on fuelwood is much higher. For example, in Nepal and countries in SubSaharan Africa, fuelwood accounts for roughly 80 percent of the total energy requirements.

Developed nations use fuelwood to a much lesser extent, although fuelwood contributes to between 12 to 18 percent of total energy needs in Scandinavian and Central and East European countries primarily because of heating practices during cold winters. Still, dependence on fuelwood is most common in developing nations with the FAO estimating in 1998 that 50 percent of the world’s fuelwood was consumed in five countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Wood as a source of energy varies in its heating potential. Two major factors determining heat potential are wood density and dryness. Density is determined by tree species type. The potential heat content per kilogram is roughly equal between all types of wood so it is the density of that wood which influences its heat producing capacity. Broadly speaking, wood either comes from softwood or hardwood varieties. Softwood tree species include many conifers while hardwood species are typically broadleaf trees. Softwood trees are typically less dense than slower growing hardwood tree species and are therefore less desirable for fuelwood. There are some hardwoods such as Aspen or Poplar with lower density wood and some softwood trees like Western Larch and Yew with higher density fuelwood. Dryness is another important factor influencing the heating potential of fuelwood. Efficient combustion is greatest in wood that is well dried.

There are many benefits and conveniences associated with fuelwood that make it an optimal fuel choice for rural communities worldwide. In many regions, the most obvious benefit is that wood is free and readily available for individuals to collect. A renewable energy source, fuelwood can be managed in ways that replenish tree stocks and maintain a consistent local supply.

This is a claim that other common domestic fuel types such as kerosene, Liquid Petroleum Gasoline (LPG) and coal cannot easily make. Wood fuel is also a desirable form of household energy because it produces smoke that can serve practical purposes. For example, many households use wood smoke to cure meats while other homes with thatched roofing and siding find smoke a useful mechanism for repelling pests and insects.

Despite the many benefits and conveniences of wood, indoor air pollution from cooking and heating remains a serious global health problem. According to reports by Practical Action, the indoor burning of solid fuels kills 1.6 million people each year. The affected population is comprised predominantly of women and children who usually partake in cooking and heating practices. In India alone, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded in 2002 that exposure to indoor air pollution contributes to 500,000 deaths and 500 million cases of illness among women and children each year. According to the United Nations Development Program, this places India alongside China as one of the two countries in the world to experience the highest levels of indoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution from wood and other biomass fuels has been described as the “Silent Killer” by a number of international NGOs because for many years, little attention was given to the problem by governments around the world. It is argued by some that the main explanations for such low attention is the politically marginal position of the main victimsthird world, rural, poor, women.

With a heavy reliance on fuelwood to satisfy household energy needs, many regions of the world have suffered from a perceived “fuelwood crisis.” These concerns were legitimized largely by a series of influential reports during the 1970s and early 1980s by the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and the FAO. These reports explained how fuelwood shortages were a result of heavy deforestation in developing nations. The fuelwood crisis was predicated on the fuelwood gap theory stating simply that tree removal was outpacing tree regeneration resulting in a fuelwood “deficit.”

The basic premise of the theory stated that fuelwood collection was the principal driver of rapid tree removal and the fuelwood deficit. A number of subsequent studies revealed the fuelwood crisis to be misdiagnosed and largely overstated. In terms of the so-called fuelwood gap, many of the regional studies failed to include trees outside of forests including trees in villages, along roads and in agricultural areas. These studies also overlooked other forms of biomass which constitute fuelwood such as farm-derived woody biomass. As far as blaming heavy deforestation on fuelwood collection, these studies failed to identify a significant underlying factor-large-scale forest clearing for agricultural purposes.

During this time period, community forests were established to ameliorate the fuelwood crisis. The historically inadequate policies of top-down, stateled forest management programs led to the formation of community forestry programs during the 1970s. “Forests for the People” programs were established to cater specifically to the needs of the energy consumers. These programs included the establishment of woodlots in tree deficient regions and cash crop capabilities for local residents. Ultimately many of these projects failed due to inappropriate, persistent top-down ‘expert’ management, and corruption at the micro politics scaleincluding community level exclusionary practices.

Despite the alarmist and sweeping inaccuracy of the fuelwood crisis, today there remains ample evidence of localized fuelwood supply irregularities. For example, fuelwood shortages are increasingly common around urban areas. Commonly referred to as treeless halos, fuelwood shortages occur as urban residents and their wood foraging activities are pushed to settlements along the margins of urban areas. In response to local fuelwood shortages, both supply-side and demand-side measures have been implemented worldwide to ensure sustainable fuelwood resources.

From a supply standpoint, participatory forest management, or joint forest management programs have been established in many countries to provide reliable fuelwood resources to local communities. The basic philosophy guiding these programs is to give joint control over forest stewardship and revenue generating potential to the government and communities. Demand side regulation occurs principally through improved cookstove programs.

The goal of these programs is to increase the wood burning efficiency of cookstoves by replacing old, inefficient stoves with new models.

Bibliography:

Agrawal, Cold Hearths and Barren Slopes: The Woodfuel Crisis in the Third World (Riverdale Company, 1986);
Leach and R. Mearns, Beyond the Woodfuel Crisis: People, Land and Trees in Africa (Earthscan Publications, 1988);
Pandey. Fuelwood Studies in India: Myth and Reality (Center for International Forestry Research, 2002);
World Energy Council, The Challenge of Rural Energy Poverty in Developing Nations (1999).