The use of natural resources, as well as land use or utilization of other ecosystem services, should be based on an evaluation of carrying capacity of the system, and should be designed taking into account social, economic and environmental dimensions, with an integrated assessment of renewable energy. Therefore, the methodology to evaluate the Carrying Capacity presented below will be a part of a Decision Support System, which will include indicators about environmental impacts, technology assessment of machineries, economic dimension, and social aspects. The methodology developed for the site-specific assessment of the biomass availability, with respect to carrying capacity, consists of quantification and mapping (using Geographic Information Systems) of forest biomass taking into account local features (e.g. abundance, spatial distribution and type of species) as reported in local territorial plans. The quantitative results, which represent three different \\\"availability levels\\\" of biomass are: the Theoretical Potential, the Technical Potential, and the Net Energy Potential. The Theoretical Potential is defined as the biomass that can be harvested annually without affecting the resource and as it is stated by local planning. the Technical Potential is obtained by subtracting firstly the Current Uses of wood from the Theoretical Potential. Then, the Technical Losses are subtracted in order to obtain the Technical Potential. It represents the estimated biomass available for the energy use. Final aim of the proposed methodology is to assess the feasibility of short supply chains forest-wood-energy, so the ultimate goal should be to obtain a potential value in terms of energy: the Net Energy Potential. The methodology is applied to two mountain areas of Como Province: Comunità Montana Lario Intelvese (CMLI) and Comunità Montana Triangolo Lariano (CMTL). Results are distribution and availability of forest biomass. In terms of Replacement of fossil fuel, main results for the two case studies are 2138 toe/y for the CMLI area and 2351 toe/ for the CMTL area. Policy of the Province of Como identifies small chips plants (power below 1 MWt) as optimal solution in order to use the resource in energetic valorisation. A thermal power plant using forest chips for district heating is located in the CMLI area, it has a power of 240 kWt and it supplies heat to a pool. Considering the consumption of this facility and the biomass availability calculated, it is estimated that each study area can be provided with 20 similar plants. The proposed methodology evaluates the possibility that forests can provide the supply of raw material for energy production among ecosystem services. In addition, this assessment aims to integrate considerations to protect the other ecosystem services. Moreover, the proposed methodology is useful for a preliminary assessment of the possibility to considering woody biomass in energy planning at local level.
Martire, S., Castellani, V., Sala, S. (2012). Methodology for Sustainability Assessment and Resource Efficiency in Forest Sector. In Proceedings of 7th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems – SDEWES Conference. Skopje : Grafotisok.
Methodology for Sustainability Assessment and Resource Efficiency in Forest Sector
MARTIRE, SALVATORE;CASTELLANI, VALENTINA;SALA, SERENELLA
2012
Abstract
The use of natural resources, as well as land use or utilization of other ecosystem services, should be based on an evaluation of carrying capacity of the system, and should be designed taking into account social, economic and environmental dimensions, with an integrated assessment of renewable energy. Therefore, the methodology to evaluate the Carrying Capacity presented below will be a part of a Decision Support System, which will include indicators about environmental impacts, technology assessment of machineries, economic dimension, and social aspects. The methodology developed for the site-specific assessment of the biomass availability, with respect to carrying capacity, consists of quantification and mapping (using Geographic Information Systems) of forest biomass taking into account local features (e.g. abundance, spatial distribution and type of species) as reported in local territorial plans. The quantitative results, which represent three different \\\"availability levels\\\" of biomass are: the Theoretical Potential, the Technical Potential, and the Net Energy Potential. The Theoretical Potential is defined as the biomass that can be harvested annually without affecting the resource and as it is stated by local planning. the Technical Potential is obtained by subtracting firstly the Current Uses of wood from the Theoretical Potential. Then, the Technical Losses are subtracted in order to obtain the Technical Potential. It represents the estimated biomass available for the energy use. Final aim of the proposed methodology is to assess the feasibility of short supply chains forest-wood-energy, so the ultimate goal should be to obtain a potential value in terms of energy: the Net Energy Potential. The methodology is applied to two mountain areas of Como Province: Comunità Montana Lario Intelvese (CMLI) and Comunità Montana Triangolo Lariano (CMTL). Results are distribution and availability of forest biomass. In terms of Replacement of fossil fuel, main results for the two case studies are 2138 toe/y for the CMLI area and 2351 toe/ for the CMTL area. Policy of the Province of Como identifies small chips plants (power below 1 MWt) as optimal solution in order to use the resource in energetic valorisation. A thermal power plant using forest chips for district heating is located in the CMLI area, it has a power of 240 kWt and it supplies heat to a pool. Considering the consumption of this facility and the biomass availability calculated, it is estimated that each study area can be provided with 20 similar plants. The proposed methodology evaluates the possibility that forests can provide the supply of raw material for energy production among ecosystem services. In addition, this assessment aims to integrate considerations to protect the other ecosystem services. Moreover, the proposed methodology is useful for a preliminary assessment of the possibility to considering woody biomass in energy planning at local level.
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