Nationwide harvest of small trees and bushes – potential, opportunities and obstacles

The project started in 2012 and finishes in 2014.

The aim of this project is to obtain a better assured conception of the quantity of bushes and small trees available and how they can be used as an energy source. Various harvest and utilization obstacles related to technical, economic and legal issues will also be identified in the project.

Potentially significant biomass resources are available in our increasingly overgrown landscape, e.g. on surfaces found along railways, roads, power lines, forest edges of arable land, and along rivers and lakes. The knowledge of the quantities of these biomass resources, as well as how they can be used as a fuel, is insufficient.

The project is financed by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Participating from the Department is Daniel Nilsson.

Internal partners are the departments of Forest Resource Management and Forest Products, as well as the Swedish Biodiversity Centre

External partners are Skogsforsk and the department of of Law at Uppsala University.

Project leaders are Rune Andersson and Urban Emanuelsson, SLU