- Email: [email protected]
Forest energy and economic development
70
F O R E S T FUELS
Forest Energy and Economic Development D.E. Earl. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975, 128 pp., 5 tables, 8 figures, 7 plates, £ 5.00, ISBN 0-19854521-5. The basic message in Earl's book is the following: Forest fuels are a renewable source o f energy with a potential for supplying a high proportion of the world's total energy needs. Especially in developing countries, where these fuels already are the most important source of energy, they should be in focus when planning the future energy supply. In a world where forest energy hardly appears in the most wellknown statistics, and by most authors is regarded as a dwindling and unimportant resource, this is certainly a remarkable message. According to the statistics presented in the book, wood and charcoal today c o u n t for as much as 6.6% of the world's total energy consumption, and for 80--90% or even more of the total energy consumption in m a n y developing countries. The author stresses the strong relation between energy consumption and economic growth, and presents a fairly pessimistic picture of the world's energy situation. The reserves of non-renewable energy resources as oil, gas, coal and uranium cannot last very long, according to the author, and in addition there are serious and unsolved environmental problems related to the production of atomic energy. It is therefore important to seek for alternative sources of energy, preferably renewable sources such as hydro-electric power, direct solar energy, but first and foremost forest energy. In chapter 3 we get an interesting and authoritative introduction to different forms of forest energy: firewood, charcoal and different liquid and gaseous fuels which can be derived from wood. It is a pity, though, that the new methods for production of oil from forest waste, which have recently be developed in U.S.A. is n o t included in the presentation. The potential for supplying renewable energy from the forest areas of the world is analyzed in chapter 4. The statistics in this field have m a n y deficiencies. According to the author's analysis the present forest area is approximately 4 billion ha with a growing stock of 624 billion m 3 and an annual increment of 18 billion m 3 . Of this, 1.4 billion m 3 is used for industrial purposes and 1.1 billion m 3 for fuel, leaving about 15.5 billion m 3 of the annual growth unused. This corresponds to nearly 7 billion tonnes of coal equivalent, roughly the same as the worlds total energy consumption in the year 1970. Although this is a purely theoretical figure it gives the author an interesting background for a discussion of the physical and economic potential for the supply of forest energy. Chapter 5 discusses the present consumption and future demand for forest energy. Existing analyses indicate that the demand will increase in develop-
71 ing countries but decrease in developed countries. Some interesting price and cost comparisons are given in chapter 6. Generally fuel-wood and charcoal are cheap relative to fossil fuels in developingcountries whereas the opposite seems to be the case in developed economies. The author stresses, however, that this fact does not necessarily correspond to the net economic benefit obtained from the use of the different types of fuel. The author discusses further the social costs and benefits related to fuel wood and charcoal production in developing countries and stresses especially the fact that fuel production can often be seen as an alternative to conventional silvicultural treatment in tropical forests - such as poisoning of unwanted species. The opportunity costs of forest fuel production may therefore be very low. Also the low shadow wage of labour in many developing countries tends to decrease the social costs of production of forest fuels. Centered around a case-study from Nepal, chapter 7 illustrates the importance of taking the energy supply into consideration when planning a settlem e n t scheme. The risk of devastating the forest with disastrous effects for both agriculture and forestry and related industries is high in countries where people are used to obtaining their fuel supply from nearby forests. More intensive management of existing forests, special fuel-wood plantations or provision for fossil fuels or electricity are alternatives which may be considered in land-use planning. In the last chapter the author summarizes some of the main points made in the book and draws attention to possible future prospects. Among other things he claims that limited energy resources will lead to increased prices for all sources of energy. Many developing countries will find it difficult to pay in foreign exchange for the energy resources necessary for further economic development. However, these countries "have among them the greatest untapped energy potential in their forests, which, if managed well could supply all their energy requirements and provide a surplus for export". These possibilities are, however, n o t realized by their governments with the result that "high capital reserves of energy in the forests are being dissipated at an alarmingly high rate". Earl's message is important and essentially true, and it is hoped that it gets through to authorities in forest-rich developing countries. The fact that he places his message in a global context is valuable, but unfortunately the balance between the global and the more specialized aspects could have been better. Regarded as an analysis of the global energy situation the book is not very strong. These aspects could, w i t h o u t much damage, have been given a more modest role as a framework for the forestry aspects. The part of the book covering the technological aspects of forest fuels is convincing. The author's competance and knowledge of the problems in developing countries as well as long research experience in this field is clearly demonstrated. When it comes to the economics, however, the analyses are less convincing, especially the cost--benefit part of it. The overall impression of the book is, all the same, that it is a valuable contribution to the debate about energy supply in the future. F. Jq)RGENSEN
(~s-NLH, Norway)
F O R E S T FUELS
Forest Energy and Economic Development D.E. Earl. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975, 128 pp., 5 tables, 8 figures, 7 plates, £ 5.00, ISBN 0-19854521-5. The basic message in Earl's book is the following: Forest fuels are a renewable source o f energy with a potential for supplying a high proportion of the world's total energy needs. Especially in developing countries, where these fuels already are the most important source of energy, they should be in focus when planning the future energy supply. In a world where forest energy hardly appears in the most wellknown statistics, and by most authors is regarded as a dwindling and unimportant resource, this is certainly a remarkable message. According to the statistics presented in the book, wood and charcoal today c o u n t for as much as 6.6% of the world's total energy consumption, and for 80--90% or even more of the total energy consumption in m a n y developing countries. The author stresses the strong relation between energy consumption and economic growth, and presents a fairly pessimistic picture of the world's energy situation. The reserves of non-renewable energy resources as oil, gas, coal and uranium cannot last very long, according to the author, and in addition there are serious and unsolved environmental problems related to the production of atomic energy. It is therefore important to seek for alternative sources of energy, preferably renewable sources such as hydro-electric power, direct solar energy, but first and foremost forest energy. In chapter 3 we get an interesting and authoritative introduction to different forms of forest energy: firewood, charcoal and different liquid and gaseous fuels which can be derived from wood. It is a pity, though, that the new methods for production of oil from forest waste, which have recently be developed in U.S.A. is n o t included in the presentation. The potential for supplying renewable energy from the forest areas of the world is analyzed in chapter 4. The statistics in this field have m a n y deficiencies. According to the author's analysis the present forest area is approximately 4 billion ha with a growing stock of 624 billion m 3 and an annual increment of 18 billion m 3 . Of this, 1.4 billion m 3 is used for industrial purposes and 1.1 billion m 3 for fuel, leaving about 15.5 billion m 3 of the annual growth unused. This corresponds to nearly 7 billion tonnes of coal equivalent, roughly the same as the worlds total energy consumption in the year 1970. Although this is a purely theoretical figure it gives the author an interesting background for a discussion of the physical and economic potential for the supply of forest energy. Chapter 5 discusses the present consumption and future demand for forest energy. Existing analyses indicate that the demand will increase in develop-
71 ing countries but decrease in developed countries. Some interesting price and cost comparisons are given in chapter 6. Generally fuel-wood and charcoal are cheap relative to fossil fuels in developingcountries whereas the opposite seems to be the case in developed economies. The author stresses, however, that this fact does not necessarily correspond to the net economic benefit obtained from the use of the different types of fuel. The author discusses further the social costs and benefits related to fuel wood and charcoal production in developing countries and stresses especially the fact that fuel production can often be seen as an alternative to conventional silvicultural treatment in tropical forests - such as poisoning of unwanted species. The opportunity costs of forest fuel production may therefore be very low. Also the low shadow wage of labour in many developing countries tends to decrease the social costs of production of forest fuels. Centered around a case-study from Nepal, chapter 7 illustrates the importance of taking the energy supply into consideration when planning a settlem e n t scheme. The risk of devastating the forest with disastrous effects for both agriculture and forestry and related industries is high in countries where people are used to obtaining their fuel supply from nearby forests. More intensive management of existing forests, special fuel-wood plantations or provision for fossil fuels or electricity are alternatives which may be considered in land-use planning. In the last chapter the author summarizes some of the main points made in the book and draws attention to possible future prospects. Among other things he claims that limited energy resources will lead to increased prices for all sources of energy. Many developing countries will find it difficult to pay in foreign exchange for the energy resources necessary for further economic development. However, these countries "have among them the greatest untapped energy potential in their forests, which, if managed well could supply all their energy requirements and provide a surplus for export". These possibilities are, however, n o t realized by their governments with the result that "high capital reserves of energy in the forests are being dissipated at an alarmingly high rate". Earl's message is important and essentially true, and it is hoped that it gets through to authorities in forest-rich developing countries. The fact that he places his message in a global context is valuable, but unfortunately the balance between the global and the more specialized aspects could have been better. Regarded as an analysis of the global energy situation the book is not very strong. These aspects could, w i t h o u t much damage, have been given a more modest role as a framework for the forestry aspects. The part of the book covering the technological aspects of forest fuels is convincing. The author's competance and knowledge of the problems in developing countries as well as long research experience in this field is clearly demonstrated. When it comes to the economics, however, the analyses are less convincing, especially the cost--benefit part of it. The overall impression of the book is, all the same, that it is a valuable contribution to the debate about energy supply in the future. F. Jq)RGENSEN
(~s-NLH, Norway)