Forest increasing utilization

This paper will analyze the feasibility and implications of increased utilization of our forests as a source of energy. Consideration will also be given to the production of biomass from intensively cultured plantations as well as the quality of the biomass produced by different management techniques. 

A recent study for the American Puipwood Association evaluated the world wood supply and demand situation to the year 2000 (7). The United States was identified as one of the countries which will need more wood than it can supply. However, the study concluded that we have the potential to not only eliminate the expected deficit but also to become a net exporter of forest products. To accomplish this goal, we will need to increase utilization of current growth as well as increase productivity on all available lands. 

Under low-dose conditions, forest ecosystems act as sinks for atmospheric pollutants and in some instances as sources. As indicated in Chapter 7, the atmosphere, lithosphere, and oceans are involved in cycling carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and other elements through each subsystem with different time scales. Under low-dose conditions, forest and other biomass systems have been utilizing chemical compounds present in the atmosphere and releasing others to the atmosphere for thousands of years. Industrialization has increased the concentrations of NO2, SO2, and CO2 in the "clean background" atmosphere, and certain types of interactions with forest systems can be defined. 

Plants may be affected by indirect modifications of the environment. Soil acidification, for example, can cause the leaching of nutrients, and the release of toxic aluminum. These effects may operate together to produce nutrient deficiencies or imbalances to plants. High soil concentrations of aluminum may prevent uptake and utilization of nutrients by plants.Increased availability of aluminum in soils has been implicated as a cause of forest declines in both Europe and the United States, possibly through the toxic effects on small feeder roots 14),... 

Both in the USA and the EU, the introduction of renewable fuels standards is likely to increase considerably the consumption of bioethanol. Lignocelluloses from agricultural and forest industry residues and/or the carbohydrate fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) will be the future source of biomass, but starch-rich sources such as corn grain (the major raw material for ethanol in USA) and sugar cane (in Brazil) are currently used. Although land devoted to fuel could reduce land available for food production, this is at present not a serious problem, but could become progressively more important with increasing use of bioethanol. For this reason, it is important to utilize other crops that could be cultivated in unused land (an important social factor to preserve rural populations) and, especially, start to use cellulose-based feedstocks and waste materials as raw material. 

In this book of the series, a more traditional area of research in the field of renewable resonrces is discnssed. It is indeed a long-standing topic to utilize wood for a vast number of applications however, it is a very active and changing field of research. The modification of wood needs to be compatible with the increasing demands at the environmental level, the social role of forests and woods and the technical characteristics needed to create certain materials. This book certainly paves the way to give the professional reader a taste of this area and offers an np-to-date overview of the different kinds of modification and the impact on the dnrability of the materials. 

Likewise, WoodwelPs prediction" of enhancement of the activity of insect pests and some disease agents (which has been demonstrated in the San Bernardino Mountains forest) could lead to an increase in vertebrate species that feed on invertebrates or utilize dead plants for cover. Birds would be the most likely to increase and, to a lesser extent, such small mammals as deer mice, which are partially insectivorous. 

Weeds influence the net productivity of forest sites. Foresters rate land productivity in terms of site quality, typically measured by the height reached by trees at a specified age. For example, if trees reach 27 m (90 feet) at 50 years, the site index is described as SI50 = 27 m. With an increased site index, the economic productivity and value of forest land increase disproportionately because the yield increases. The time required to reach maximum yield decreases and trees become more cylindrical, hence more efficiently utilized. 

Although the amount of by-products such as used paper from office automation machines increases very rapidly, quite few technologies to utilize them have been developed. Especially the huge amount of used paper produced in banks and other offices is a waste to be burnt out to keep the printed secret matters. Generally the huge amount of used paper causes a big problem in urban waste disposal facilities. On the other hand, saving forests in many countries is desired from the view point of environmental problems in the world. 

More significant is the size of the resource required and the demand on utilities (Table 13.2). In this naive conceptual analysis assume initially that all the timber grown will go to pulp. In many countries perhaps only a third of the wood goes to pulp so the land area should be increased by a factor of three. Finally, it would be unrealistic to assume that all land in the vicinity of the mill would be dedicated to forest. As mills get larger wood has to be hauled from further away resulting in much higher transport costs. Doubling production with second line may be... 

An additional phenomenon may also be important in the tropical forest C/P interaction. Humic molecules and organic acids actively compete with phosphorus for soil fixation sites. This means that increases in soil carbon density at higher [CO2] may serve to displace phosphate ions from sorption sites and into the soil solution, where they can then be utilized by plants. It is not inconceivable that this effect could give rise to a runaway positive feedback CO,-induced increases in tropical forest plant growth... 

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