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Aspects of biomass energy
Book reviews the range of attempts by governments to regulate their dependence on oil revenue; the emergence of O P E C and anxieties concerning the security of supply. Plus ~a c h a n g e ! . . . In a climate today, where the shortcomings, inefficiences and sheltered character of some national oil companies are becoming widely apparent and where the misguided political and c o m m e r c i a l high e x p e c t a t i o n s of national governments have reaped
their own whirlwind, we have to question Edith Penrose's teasing conclusion: 'If, as predicted by many, oil becomes "just another commodity", the multinational structure of the industry will by then have disappeared'. Oil, dearly, is not 'just another commodity'. Here, particularly in the chapters devoted to the Middle East, South America and Japan, is ample historical evidence that the oil and gas multi-
Aspects of biomass energy BIOMASS ASSESSMENT: Woody Biomass in the SADCC Region by Andrew MUlingtonand John Townshend Earthscan Publications Limited, London, UK, 1989, 270 pp, £29.95 BIOGAS END-USE IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY By M. Constant, H. Naveau, G.-L. Ferrero and E.-J. Nyns Elsevier Applied Science, London and New York, 1989, 345 pp, £49 While both these volumes are concerned with aspects of biomass energy, there the similarity ends. One deals in great detail with an inventory of the fuelwood resources of the nine member states of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), and the other with the practical end-uses to which biogas is put on farms, landfill sites and in industry within the EEC. The two books are essentially for the specialist in each case, though the techniques of biomass assessment, using a combination of field studies and remote sensing by satellite, should certainly find applications in other parts of the world. One could also argue that the accessibility of fuelwood to the inhabitants of black Africa is a much more important issue than that of biogas to the farmers of western Europe, but
ENERGY POLICY March 1990
since the texts are so disparate in n a t u r e , direct c o m p a r i s o n s m a d e along such lines are hardly profitable and doubtfully valid. They are therefore best addressed in turn. Many books have been written about the fuelwood crisis in developing countries, a large proportion of which being of a rather superficial character. This can be explained away to a certain extent by lack of available hard data to reinforce the fact that there is a huge problem and that it is getting worse. The main authors of Biomass Assessment work at the University of Reading's Department of Geography and, together with the other contributors to this volume (who include a r e m o t e s e n s i n g e x p e r t f r o m the N A S A / G o d d a r d Space Flight Center in the U S A ) have presented data, and very detailed data, of the fuelwood stock and annual incremental growth on each land cover type of the various provinces and districts of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Not only that, but they also differentiate between 19 broad classes of biomass, defined by seasonal variations in growing patterns and actual biomass characteristics. Therefore a considerable amount of statistical data is presented, but is augmented with qualitative descriptions of the individual biomass classes (for example dry evergreen forests, scrub w o o d l a n d , dense s a v a n n a h woodland) found in each country to
nationals with their economies of scale and concentration of technology, finance and skills (although now much fewer in number) still have a great deal to offer worldwide in maintaining the momentum of economic growth and development.
Paul Tempest Shell Centre, London, UK
build up, through the district levels, a national woody biomass supply profile. When the results of this study are compared with those of previous studies using secondary data (including 'official' statistics) then the discrepancies found can be substantial, though to their credit the authors admit that their own methodology too is not perfect. Eight pages are devoted to the intricacies of remote sensing, with the data used in the study obtained from N A S A via a sensor carried on one of its meteorological satellites. The purpose of the programme, which itself was commissioned by the S A D C C E n e r g y S e c t o r b a s e d in Angola, is to provide a beginning for a m o r e r a t i o n a l f u e l w o o d planning strategy in the region than hitherto possible. It will be followed up by more localized studies of particular problem areas. No simple solutions are offered; no general conclusions are made. The preface does, however, state that 'The key to success lies in encouraging farmers to grow more trees themselves. (But) they will not do this if fuelwood is to be the only benefit but they will be encouraged if trees and tree products can be shown to provide a solution, or partial solution, to their more urgent needs'. The study described in Biomass Assessment should begin the process of discovering where farmers should grow which trees within the S A D C C region; and while the book itself should certainly be read by energy and land use planners and those seeking more accurate biomass resource data, because of its specialist approach and style its overall readership will probably be much less than it deserves.
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their own whirlwind, we have to question Edith Penrose's teasing conclusion: 'If, as predicted by many, oil becomes "just another commodity", the multinational structure of the industry will by then have disappeared'. Oil, dearly, is not 'just another commodity'. Here, particularly in the chapters devoted to the Middle East, South America and Japan, is ample historical evidence that the oil and gas multi-
Aspects of biomass energy BIOMASS ASSESSMENT: Woody Biomass in the SADCC Region by Andrew MUlingtonand John Townshend Earthscan Publications Limited, London, UK, 1989, 270 pp, £29.95 BIOGAS END-USE IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY By M. Constant, H. Naveau, G.-L. Ferrero and E.-J. Nyns Elsevier Applied Science, London and New York, 1989, 345 pp, £49 While both these volumes are concerned with aspects of biomass energy, there the similarity ends. One deals in great detail with an inventory of the fuelwood resources of the nine member states of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), and the other with the practical end-uses to which biogas is put on farms, landfill sites and in industry within the EEC. The two books are essentially for the specialist in each case, though the techniques of biomass assessment, using a combination of field studies and remote sensing by satellite, should certainly find applications in other parts of the world. One could also argue that the accessibility of fuelwood to the inhabitants of black Africa is a much more important issue than that of biogas to the farmers of western Europe, but
ENERGY POLICY March 1990
since the texts are so disparate in n a t u r e , direct c o m p a r i s o n s m a d e along such lines are hardly profitable and doubtfully valid. They are therefore best addressed in turn. Many books have been written about the fuelwood crisis in developing countries, a large proportion of which being of a rather superficial character. This can be explained away to a certain extent by lack of available hard data to reinforce the fact that there is a huge problem and that it is getting worse. The main authors of Biomass Assessment work at the University of Reading's Department of Geography and, together with the other contributors to this volume (who include a r e m o t e s e n s i n g e x p e r t f r o m the N A S A / G o d d a r d Space Flight Center in the U S A ) have presented data, and very detailed data, of the fuelwood stock and annual incremental growth on each land cover type of the various provinces and districts of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Not only that, but they also differentiate between 19 broad classes of biomass, defined by seasonal variations in growing patterns and actual biomass characteristics. Therefore a considerable amount of statistical data is presented, but is augmented with qualitative descriptions of the individual biomass classes (for example dry evergreen forests, scrub w o o d l a n d , dense s a v a n n a h woodland) found in each country to
nationals with their economies of scale and concentration of technology, finance and skills (although now much fewer in number) still have a great deal to offer worldwide in maintaining the momentum of economic growth and development.
Paul Tempest Shell Centre, London, UK
build up, through the district levels, a national woody biomass supply profile. When the results of this study are compared with those of previous studies using secondary data (including 'official' statistics) then the discrepancies found can be substantial, though to their credit the authors admit that their own methodology too is not perfect. Eight pages are devoted to the intricacies of remote sensing, with the data used in the study obtained from N A S A via a sensor carried on one of its meteorological satellites. The purpose of the programme, which itself was commissioned by the S A D C C E n e r g y S e c t o r b a s e d in Angola, is to provide a beginning for a m o r e r a t i o n a l f u e l w o o d planning strategy in the region than hitherto possible. It will be followed up by more localized studies of particular problem areas. No simple solutions are offered; no general conclusions are made. The preface does, however, state that 'The key to success lies in encouraging farmers to grow more trees themselves. (But) they will not do this if fuelwood is to be the only benefit but they will be encouraged if trees and tree products can be shown to provide a solution, or partial solution, to their more urgent needs'. The study described in Biomass Assessment should begin the process of discovering where farmers should grow which trees within the S A D C C region; and while the book itself should certainly be read by energy and land use planners and those seeking more accurate biomass resource data, because of its specialist approach and style its overall readership will probably be much less than it deserves.
213