Supply chain integration in the UK bioenergy industry:findings from a pilot study

Interest in bioenergy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels is increasing. This emergent sector is subject to a range of ambitious initiatives promoted by National Governments to generate energy from renewable sources. Transition to energy production from biomass still lacks a feasible infrastructure particularly from a supply chain and business perspective. Supply chain integration has not been studied widely providing a deficit in the literature and in practice. This paper presents results from a pilot study designed to identify attributes that helps optimise such supply chains. To consider this challenge it is important to identify those characteristics that integrate bioenergy supply chains and ascertain if they are distinct from those found in conventional energy models. In general terms the supply chain is defined by upstream at the point of origin of raw materials and downstream at the point of distribution to final customer. It remains to be seen if this is the case for bioenergy supply chains as there is an imbalance between knowledge and practice, even understanding the terminology. The initial pilot study results presented in the paper facilitates understanding the gap between general supply chain knowledge and what is practiced within bioenergy organisations

The effects of increased supply and emerging technologies in the forest products industry on rural communities in the northwest U.S.

The development of a market for currently non-merchantable forest material, such as harvest residues of tops and limbs of trees or small diameter trees, has been suggested as a possible win-win solution that could: (i) provide a financial incentive to help motivate treatments to reduce wildfire risk or restore forest stands; (ii) provide a material that can be harvested and potentially processed in rural communities reeling from changes in the forest products industry and policy environment; and (iii) capture more value from timber management activities. There is potential for such a market to aid rural communities through the incorporation of intermediate processing centers, depots, as demand locations in a market model of the forest products industry. Intermediate processing centers would gather woody biomass (harvest residues only) for either local use or for refining and shipping to a hypothetical bio-refinery producing jet fuel. Modeling the supply of this traditionally non-merchantable material with spatially explicit potential locations for emerging technologies in biomass processing allows for a realistic analysis of the feasibility of such a market to stimulate rural development. This dissertation models multiple scenarios for the utilization of harvest residues within the current forest products market in western Oregon. Scenarios considered include ones incorporating different establishment and operating costs of the depots and functions of the intermediate processing centers (dependent and independent depots) to model potential options on the demand side. On the supply side, scenarios included incorporation of harvest residues with and without federal lands as sources of biomass material and the inclusion of this material under increases in federal harvest activities, designed to simulate management closer to that outlined in the Northwest Forest Plan. Results suggest that with the modeled exogenous market prices for residuals, there is limited potential for a biomass market for harvest residues to aid some of the hardest-hit rural communities in western Oregon, and there is little improvement in the potential for the market to aid these places under scenarios of increased federal harvest

A Comprehensive Guide to Fuel Management Practices for Dry Mixed Conifer Forests in the Northwestern United States

This guide describes the benefits, opportunities, and trade-offs concerning fuel treatments in the dry mixed conifer forests of northern California and the Klamath Mountains, Pacific Northwest Interior, northern and central Rocky Mountains, and Utah. Multiple interacting disturbances and diverse physical settings have created a forest mosaic with historically low- to mixed-severity fire regimes. Analysis of forest inventory data found nearly 80 percent of these forests rate hazardous by at least one measure and 20 to 30 percent rate hazardous by multiple measures. Modeled mechanical treatments designed to mimic what is typically implemented, such as thinning, are effective on less than 20 percent of the forest in single entry, but can be self-funding more often than not. We provide: (1) exhaustive summaries and links to supporting guides and literature on the mechanics of fuel treatments, including mechanical manipulation, prescribed fire, targeted grazing and chemical use; (2) a decision tree to help managers select the best mechanical method for any situation in these regions; (3) discussion on how to apply prescribed fire to achieve diverse and specific objectives; (4) key principles for developing an effective monitoring plan; (5) economic analysis of mechanical fuel treatments in each region; and (6) discussion on fuel treatment longevity. In the electronic version of the document, we have provided links to electronic copies of cited literature available in TreeSearch online document library (http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/