Use of wood fuels from boreal forests will create a biofuel carbon debt with a long payback time

Arbeitspapier

Owing to the extensive critique of food-crop-based biofuels, attention and hopes have turned toward second-generation wood-based biofuels. An important question is therefore whether wood from boreal forests could serve as a source for biofuels. However, in a typical boreal forest, it takes 70-120 years before a stand of trees is mature. If this time lag and the real dynamics of the carbon stock of boreal forests more generally are taken into account, it becomes necessary to reconsider the potential mitigation effects of the increased use of wood fuels from boreal forests. This paper finds that the increased harvest of a boreal forest creates a biofuel carbon debt that takes 150-230 years to repay.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Papers ; No. 637

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Renewable Resources and Conservation: Forestry ; Alternative Energy Sources ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming ; Environmental Economics: Government Policy
• Subject: forestry ; greenhouse gas emissions ; bioenergy ; carbon neutrality

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Holtsmark, Bjart
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Statistics Norway, Research Department
• (where): Oslo
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/192619
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET