Reviewing wood biomass potentials for energy in Europe: the role of forests and fast growing plantations

Wood biomass for energy is largely produced in Europe from forest land resulting from silvicultural and management practices or from agricultural land in the form of fast growing plantations. The present paper reviews and compares the estimated current potentials for wood biomass production in 25 countries in Europe. The potentials are divided attending to these sources to identify the most suitable method of wood biomass production on a country level, based on its current forest and agriculture levels of production. Data has been collected and compiled from previous models and estimations. The total aggregated available potential in Europe is 76 Mm³ of wood biomass from the forests, with an additional 90 Mm³ from increasing the utilization of forest lands, and 98 Mm³ from fast growing plantations (dedicating 5% of current agricultural land). Germany and France showed high potentials both from agriculture and forest; Finland and Sweden had most of its potential from forest sources; and Spain, Poland, and UK from fast-growing plantations. When considered together, Europe presents a large potential for wood biomass production for energy, and each country should develop different policy strategies of promotion attending to the most available source to realize this potential efficiently.

用于能源生产的木质生物质，在欧洲主要产自通过营林与经营管理作业培育的林地，或以速生人工林形式存在的农用地。本研究综述并对比了欧洲25个国家当前木质生物质生产的估算潜力，依据上述来源对潜力进行分类，旨在结合各国当前林业与农业生产水平，在国家层面确定最适配的木质生物质生产方案。相关数据均从既往模型与估算结果中收集整理而来。欧洲木质生物质总可利用潜力总计为76百万立方米（源自天然林），另有通过提升林地利用率可获得的90百万立方米，以及来自速生人工林的98百万立方米（需占用当前农用地总面积的5%）。德国与法国在农业与林业两类来源上均具备较高潜力；芬兰与瑞典的潜力主要源自林业；西班牙、波兰与英国的潜力则主要来自速生人工林。综合来看，欧洲具备大规模发展能源用木质生物质生产的潜力，各国应结合自身最具优势的生物质来源，制定差异化的激励扶持政策，以高效释放该潜力。