Fuelwood Use Research Articles

Use and knowledge of fuelwood in three rural caatinga (dryland) communities in NE Brazil

The woody species known, used, and preferred as fuelwood were examined in three rural communities within the county of Soledade, Paraiba State, NE Brazil. Ethnobotanical information was collected using semi-structured interviews with more than 90% of the local households (55 adult residents; 31 women, and 24 males). The interviewees cited 36 plant species as fuelwoods, distributed among 30 genera and 15 families, in addition to two unidentified plants. The plant families represented by the largest numbers of species were Euphorbiaceae, Anacardiaceae, Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Sapotaceae, and Fabaceae. The species Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. (“catingueira”) was cited with the greatest frequency in all three communities. Within the communities we found significant differences on the number of plants cited and actually used (p < 0.05), indicating that the residents knew more fuelwood species than they effectively harvest. The different distances from the communities to the urban centers were not related to differences on the use or the size of the stocks of fuelwood. Additionally, the study revealed that the communities examined still maintain a significant knowledge of the use of energy-providing plants in spite of the widespread use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Consuming Fuel and Fuelling Consumption: Modelling Human Caloric Demands and Fuelwood Use

This paper describes a conceptual framework that was developed to integrate livestock, human, cultivation and forest constraints to model community fuelwood consumption over a 25-year planning horizon. This framework was constructed as an energy balance based on human caloric requirements in order to examine the effects of household-level decisions for nutrition, fuelwood and land use. A scenario from a virtual community in Uganda is presented to illustrate the utility of this model to allow rapid policy and scenario evaluation. User-defined inputs combined with published research data are used in simulating resource responses and energy consumption rates. This model is a potential tool to monitor fuelwood consumption and to understand the implications of various land-use practices.

Use and knowledge of fuelwood in an area of Caatinga vegetation in NE Brazil

Caatinga (dryland) plants used as fuel by rural communities were examined to verify the criteria that determined the preference and use of each species, as well as the techniques and patterns involved in their harvesting. Fieldwork was carried out utilizing various methodologies for collecting and analyzing data, including semi-structured interviews, guided-tours, and direct observation. Differences in knowledge concerning the use of fuelwood species were examined in terms of informant sex and age, and local availability of these resources. A total of 67 plants were cited as energy sources, of which only 27 were actually used as domestic fuel, and 10 for charcoal production. The species most well known were the most collected, independent of their availability, in spite of the fact that other highly preferred species were more available. As only a small group of plants were heavily used, it will be important to quantify the harvesting of these resources in the region in order to estimate the impact of this use on the local vegetation.

A prospective study of bioenergy use in Mexico

Bioenergy is one of the renewable energy sources that can readily replace fossil fuels, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable rural development. This paper analyses the feasibility of future scenarios based on moderate and high use of biofuels in the transportation and electricity generation sectors with the aim of determining their possible impact on the Mexican energy system. Similarly, it evaluates the efficient use of biofuels in the residential sector, particularly in the rural sub-sector. In this context, three scenarios are built within a time frame that goes from 2005 to 2030. In the base scenario, fossil fuels are assumed as the dominant source of energy, whereas in the two alternative scenarios moderate and high biofuel penetration diffusion curves are constructed and discussed on the basis of their technical and economical feasibility. Simulation results indicate that the use of ethanol, biodiesel and electricity obtained from primary biomass may account for 16.17% of the total energy consumed in the high scenario for all selected sectors. CO2 emissions reduction—including the emissions saved from the reduction in the non-sustainable use of fuelwood in the rural residential sector—is equivalent to 87.44 million tons of CO2 and would account for 17.84% of the CO2 emitted by electricity supply and transportation sectors when the base case and the high scenario are compared by 2030. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Household fuelwood use in small electrified towns of the Makana District, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Access to secure energy supplies is a key foundation for sustainable development. Consequently local planning and development initiatives must be based on a sound knowledge of the energy use patterns and preferences of local users. This paper reports on such for three small urban settlements in the Eastern Cape Province, with a particular focus on fuelwood use. Despite widespread electrification over a decade ago, and perceptions that the ease of fuelwood collection was declining, most households continued to use fuelwood for cooking and space heating, whereas electricity was favoured for light-ing. The most common reason for this was because fuelwood was cheap (or free) compared to electric-ity. Annual demand was approximately 1 450 kg per household per year. Households that collected their own supplies of fuelwood were significantly poorer than those that either bought their stocks, or those that did not use fuelwood at all. Indigenous species were favoured over exotic species, although fuelwood vendors traded mostly in exotic species, particularly Eucalyptus and wattle. The greater reliance of poorer and unelectrified households on fuelwood requires that local authorities consider this in energy planning, otherwise the poor will be neg-lected in policies such as the Free Basic Electricity.

Woodfuel Discourses and the Re-framing of Wood Energy

This article capitalises on the global resurgence of interest in energy issues to reflect anew on discourses surrounding woodfuel production, use and change. Three extant discourses (forestry, conservation and sustainability) are examined, with an emphasis on their origins, structure, content and links to policy. In addition, the processes implicated in the evolution of a fourth, emergent, discourse are also highlighted. Here, the focus is the ongoing conceptual reframing of existing policy and practice to reflect new preoccupations. Overall, the article illustrates the multiple, complex, dynamic and contested forms which woodfuel (and wider environment and development) discourse takes; points to the increasing mainstreaming of such ‘energy talk’ within wider neoliberal political economies and ecologies; and cautions, in passing, against allowing the dominant discourses reviewed to crowd out alternative ‘popular’ discourses and their differing trajectories of woodfuel experience and understanding.

The effect of CO2 emission trade on the wood fuel market in Finland

Abstract In this study, the effect of emission trade on the development of the wood fuel market and on the balance of the demand and supply of wood fuels in Finland was evaluated. The demand for wood fuels was estimated to double by the year 2010 to almost 50 TWh, of which 17 TWh can be forest chips. In 2010, the supply potential of by-products was estimated to be 28 TWh, of which 11 TWh was marketable outside the internal use of the forest industry. Correspondingly, the theoretical potential of forest chips was estimated to be 51 TWh and the techno-economical potential 24 TWh, which made up the potential market supply. As a result of the regional optimization model, the energy use of wood fuels was 33 TWh, which was 68% of the potential demand in the emission trade situation. Regionally, the potential demand for wood fuels for energy use was higher than the supply in all provinces.

Is increased energy utilization linked to greater cultural complexity? Energy utilization by Australian Aboriginals and traditional swidden agriculturalists

Theories have been proposed that link increases in energy utilization to increases in cultural complexity. Indeed, available estimates of per capita non-food energy utilization by hunter – gatherers and by people practising swidden agriculture in wooded areas, focusing on fuel wood use, are roughly 1 – 2 orders of magnitude lower than for industrial societies. The latter are in the range of 0.8 – 3.4 × 105 MJ year−1. However, apart from the use of fuel wood, the former estimates have not included work performed by burning vegetation. Here quantitative estimates are given of recent energy utilization linked to burning biomass by Australian Aboriginals and people practising traditional swidden agriculture. Per capita energy utilization linked to biomass burning by Australian Aboriginals is estimated at 1.6 × 106 to 4.0 × 107 MJ year−1. Estimated per capita energy utilization associated with burning biomass in traditional swidden agriculture in the tropical rainforests of Kalimantan and Venezuela, the dry forest of north-eastern Brazil and the miombo woodland of Zambia is in the range of 1.0 × 105 to 6.3 × 105 MJ year−1. The values for non-food energy utilization reported here are at variance with theories that link increases in energy utilization to increases in cultural complexity.

Changes in fuelwood use and selection following electrification in the Bushbuckridge lowveld, South Africa

Fuelwood is the primary energy source for domestic purposes throughout the developing world, in both urban and rural environments. Due to the detrimental impacts of biomass use on human and environmental health, many governments have sought to reduce its use through provision of potentially cleaner energies, of which electricity is the dominant form. Yet there are surprisingly few studies of changes in fuelwood use following the introduction of electricity, especially in rural areas of Africa. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of fuelwood use, using identical approaches, in five rural villages in the Bushbuckridge region of South Africa, spanning the period over which electricity became widely available. Almost a decade after the introduction of electricity, over 90% of households still used fuelwood for thermal purposes, especially cooking, and the mean household consumption rates over the 11-year period had not changed, even with a policy of 6 kWh per month of free electricity. The proportion of households purchasing fuelwood had increased, probably in response to a number of factors, including (i) increased fuelwood scarcity in the local environment as reflected by increased fuelwood collection times, changes in fuelwood species preferences, and ranking of scarcity by local collectors, and (ii) increases in the price of fuelwood well below that of other fuels and the prevailing inflation rate. Overall, there was an increase in the number of species harvested over the 11-year period. The implications of these findings for rural energy provision are discussed.

Woodfuels, livelihoods, and policy interventions: Changing Perspectives

In the 1970s, it appeared that fuelwood use was growing rapidly, and this could have major adverse impacts on the resource and poor users. By the mid-1980s, revised assessments indicated that there was less of a problem than had been foreseen, and much less of a need for forestry interventions to maintain supplies. As a result many of the latter were sharply scaled back. Additional information and analysis that has become available since the 1980s support the view that there is no need for large scale interventions devoted just to provision of fuelwood. However, declining access to supplies or markets can raise significant problems in some areas, and for particular categories of user. Growing urban demand for charcoal can also cause local problems, in particular in Africa. The potentials for appropriate forms of intervention are discussed.

Environmental, economic, social and political drivers for increasing use of woodfuel as a renewable resource in Britain

Abstract Present woodfuel usage in Britain is negligible. Historically, Britain has been fortunate in having abundant coal, oil and gas. At an EU level, biomass is seen as an important element of energy, environment and agriculture/forestry policy. In the European context, biomass is taken to include agricultural and industrial wastes in addition to forest woodfuel, and it is regarded as a potential source of heat, fuels and electricity. In the UK, energy policy as a whole is based on four considerations—environment, energy reliability and security, affordability for the poorest in society and competitive pricing for businesses, industries and households. Within UK policy, the dominant driver for greater use of biomass as a renewable source of energy is climate change mitigation; energy security is an emerging driver; all other potential benefits of biomass as a renewable resource are of limited significance. At the moment, the UK focus is narrower than in Europe. National targets are set only for electricity generation. Furthermore, expansion of energy crops, which are defined in the major regulations as ‘crops planted since 1989 and grown primarily for the purpose of being used as a fuel’ and, therefore, do not include material from extant forests, is seen as the main way to ensure energy security and minimise carbon expended to transport the raw material to the point of end use. Nevertheless, woody biomass from forests, sawmills, urban areas and transportation corridors is already available in vastly greater quantities than ‘energy crops’. At a regional and local scale, global environmental issues are of lower relative importance and a much wider range of potential benefits tend to be taken into consideration. For example, the economic benefits of woodfuel heating in areas without connections to the gas grid have been an important consideration in the steady increase in woodheat developments. In other areas where there is a less obvious financial driver, rural development is a powerful determinant of support for woodfuel projects.

Carbonio, energia e biomasse forestali: nuove opportunità e necessità di pianificazione

Abstract: Forest biomass provides a relevant fraction of world energy needs, not only in developing Countries. In Italy, several factors are presently contributing to a new interest for this resource, ranging from regulatory quotas for renewables to the increasing price of fossil fuel to the emergence of a European carbon stock exchange. This focus on renewable resources constitutes an important opportunity for the forest sector and for society by and large, but because of the potential dimensions of the emerging market it also requires new planning instruments, in order to avoid a sudden and widespread resumption of coppice management and a reduction of standing carbon stock in forest ecosystems, which would run contrary to the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol. An example of the future demand for biomasses in Central Italy is presented, based on the possible use of fuelwood in new coal-fired power plants by the ’co-firing’ technology.

Effectiveness of community involvement in delivering conservation benefits to the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Community-based approaches to decision-making in the management of protected areas are increasingly being implemented in many areas. However information on the outcome of these approaches for conservation is often lacking. In this study, the effectiveness of community-based approaches for conservation of biodiversity was examined in Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) (Nepal) through a combination of ecological assessments and social surveys undertaken both within and outwith ACA. Forest basal area and tree species diversity were found to be significantly higher inside ACA than in neighbouring areas outside. The mean density of cut tree stumps was significantly lower inside ACA, associated with a decline in use of fuelwood as an energy source over the past decade. Social surveys also indicated that wild animal populations have increased inside ACA since the inception of community-based conservation. Observations of animal track counts, pellet counts and direct observations of selected species such as barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak) and Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) indicated higher abundances within ACA. The community-based management has been successful in delivering conservation benefits in ACA, attributable to changing patterns of resource use and behaviour among local communities, increased control of local communities over their local resources, increased conservation awareness among local people resulting from environmental education, and the development and strengthening of local institutions such as Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMC). However, these positive achievements are threatened by the current political instability in Nepal.

Forests for Energy and the Role of Planted Trees

Woodfuels currently supply 7 percent of worldwide energy use and are much more important in developing than developed countries. Worldwide fuelwood use may be slowly declining, while charcoal production is increasing. In developing countries, woodfuel comes from natural forests, woodlands, shrublands, plantations and trees outside forests; the last is often the most important source. In developed countries, woodfuels are largely from industrial roundwood processing where up to 50 percent of logs may be used for energy. In urban areas, of both developing and developed countries, woodfuels also arises from wood processing and construction and other urban residues including tree trimming. Currently, apart from some nonindustrial plantations and the small areas of energy plantations, woodfuel largely results from by-products and residues. Forest plantation may currently provide 15 to 20 percent of all fuelwood and this contribution will rise due to continued tree planting plus the rapidly increasing industrial plantation harvest. However, forest and woodfuel-use data are of uneven quality, making estimates tenuous. There is potential to increase the amount of woodfuels in developed countries but its use will depend on fossil fuel price increases, and on ecological and social issues. In Nordic countries, forest residue use has grown, being underpinned by carbon taxes and research and development. Site nutrient conservation is assisted by leaving foliage on site and by returning the ash after burning. Leaving bark on site may be important for eucalypts. In developing countries participatory programmes are critical for encouraging tree planting. Farmers seldom plant for fuelwood alone. Large-scale fuelwood plantations programs have not always been successful. Agroforestry practices are often practiced as they provide multiple benefits, including the provision of woodfuel. Silviculture should be readily adoptable, with special attention being given to species selection, high-quality planting stock, establishment methods and protection from animals. Because of woodfuel's low relative value, energy is seldom a management objective of industrial plantations. However, often silviculture could be altered to increase bioenergy output, particularly with those sawlog regimes based on low stockings and non-extraction thinnings, and through more intensive silviculture. As a supplement to current silvicultural decision-making tools, energy analysis of silvicultural options would assist in efficient allocation of fossil fuels.

Thermal Performance of Wood-Particles on a Household Stove

Over-harvesting of woodfuel and the environmental impact associated with the use of woodfuel have become the major problem for the Department of Energy. The problem becomes critical especially when woodfuel is viewed as the major energy source for rural communities and low-income households in cities and towns. In many cases low-income households use woodfuel in open fires which compromises the efficiency with which woodfuel is used. This paper describes an experimental study aimed at determining thermal performance of a household fuelwood stove before and after some modifications were made on the existing cooker stove. Generally, the results revealed that internal lining of household stove with 25 mm thick refractory material improved the burnout time and yields relatively high fuel bed temperatures. It was concluded that if the combustion conditions such as burnout time are improved for the modified stove, household stove similar to the current test rig would reduce the fuelwood consumption rate reported in section 1. Key words: Household stove, Fuelwood, and Carbon monoxide Eastern African Journal of Rural Development Vol.20(1) 2004: 72-80

05/01278 Flows of nitrogen and phosphorus in Finland-the forest industry and use of wood fuels

05/01278 Flows of nitrogen and phosphorus in Finland-the forest industry and use of wood fuels

PENGGUNAAN KAYU BAKAR UNTUK RUMAH TANGGA DI DESA SEKITAR TAMAN HUTAN RAYA RAJOLELO BENGKULU

The study aims to observe the use of fuelwood by people living near Tahura Rajolelo Bengkulu. This study explored two villages as the subjects, desa Dusun Baru I and desa Tanjung Terdana. Thirty-one (10% IS) households were selected (using stratified random sampling methods) as samples. Data of fuelwood consumption was measured by directly weighing the fuelwood used for daily activities. Fuelwood preference, methods of collecting fuelwood and other social-economic data were gathered by interviewing the selected families. From the study it was figured out that; (1) fuelwood consumption of the families in desa Dusun Baru I and Tanjung Terdana were very high, (2) the high consumption is the impact of the consumption for protecting cattle and the inefficient use of fuelwood for cooking, (3) the fuelwood consumption of the family was significantly affected by the number of people in the family, and (4) women held the main role in collecting fuelwood.Keywords: fuelwood, tahura, Rajolelo

The effect of catena position and stump characteristics on the coppice response of three savannah fuelwood species

Fuelwood is still the primary energy source for rural households across the savannah biome of Africa. Coppice growth is an important species-specific trait that strongly influences fuelwood production and regeneration, and yet coppice growth patterns are poorly understood in African savannahs. It is therefore vital that factors affecting coppice growth of species, such as environment conditions and harvesting technique, be better understood in order to develop models for sustainable fuelwood use. This study investigated coppice growth and resource allocation strategies in relation to (1) position along the landscape catena and (2) harvesting technique, for three savannah fuelwood tree species: Dichrostachys cinerea, Albizia harveyi and Combretum collinum. The study was conducted in a dystrophic semi-arid savannah in the far north-east of South Africa. A total of 1146 harvested stumps were sampled in topland and bottomland sites in three locations around a rural village. Stump characteristics (diameter and height) and coppice shoot variables (number of shoots, length and diameter of each shoot, length of longest shoot, and diameter of fattest shoot) were measured for each stump. Three soil samples were taken in each site for physical and chemical analysis. No statistically significant differences were found in soil variables between topland and bottomland sites, probably due to low sample size. Coppice resource allocation strategies varied between species. D. cinerea exhibited a ‘quantity-driven’ strategy, with the production of large numbers of relatively small coppice shoots with high length:diameter ratio (shoot taper function). C. collinum exhibited a ‘quality-driven’ strategy, characterized by the production of a relatively low number of larger coppice shoots. Coppice growth variables for A. harveyi were intermediate between those of the other two species, suggesting a strategy where allocation of resources to the number and growth of shoots is more balanced. However, allocation of resources relative to the size of the cut stem, indexed by total shoot basal area:stump basal area ratio, did not differ significantly between species. Coppice growth was strongly favoured in bottomland sites for D. cinerea, and to a lesser degree, C. collinum. Catenal position had a negligible influence on coppice growth of A. harveyi. Number of shoots produced increased with cutting height for all three species. For all three species the number of shoots increased with stump diameter, and mean shoot size also increased with stump size for D. cinerea. There was a significant negative relationship between stump diameter and total shoot basal area:stump basal area ratio for A. harveyi and C. collinum. A framework for optimizing different coppice growth variables according to species, catenal position and harvesting technique is given.

Cultural Variation, Decision Making, and Local Institutions: An Examination of Fuelwood Use in Western Tanzania

ABSTRACT Understanding human decision making about resource use is the common denominator in effective conservation that hinges on local community involvement. Rational choice theory provides an avenue for better assessing individual-level decision making, but its ability to adequately explain community-level cooperation remains in question. Focusing on two culturally distinct populations residing in Tanzania, East Africa, I employ rational choice theory to test hypothesized relationships between the degree to which local wood resource value is discounted, and individual decisions regarding rate and selectivity of fuelwood extraction. I then relate variation in demonstrated valuation of fuelwood resources to the existence of working rules that monitor fuelwood extraction practices. I find evidence for population-level variation in future discounting of fuelwood resources, reflected in selectivity and rates of use. Evidence of rules that monitor fuelwood extraction practices did not, however, relate to future valuation of fuelwood resource, but rather to the cultural identities of the two populations.

Flows of nitrogen and phosphorus in Finland?the forest industry and use of wood fuels

Flows of nitrogen and phosphorus in Finland?the forest industry and use of wood fuels