Wood pellets production costs and energy consumption under different framework conditions in Northeast Argentina

The development of cleaner and renewable energy sources are needed in order to reduce dependency and global warming. Wood pellets are a clean renewable fuel and has been considered as one of the substitutes for fossil fuels. In Argentina, large quantities of sawmill residues are still unused and wood pellets production could be seen as both, as an environmental solution and an extra economical benefit. The general aim of this study was to determine the wood pellets production costs and energy consumption under different framework conditions in northeast Argentina. The specific costs of wood pellets for the different scenarios showed relative lower costs comparing to the ones reported in other studies, ranging from 35 to 47 €/Mg_pellets. Raw material costs represented the main cost factor in the calculation of the total pellets production costs. A lower specific production cost was observed when 50% of the raw material input was wood shavings. The specific electricity consumption per metric ton of pellet was lower in scenarios with higher production rate. Lower heat energy consumption was observed in scenarios that have a mixed raw material input. The most promising framework condition for Northeast Argentina, in terms of costs effectiveness and energy consumption could be acquired with production rates of 6 Mg/h with sawdust and wood shavings as raw material. However, simultaneous increment of the electricity by 50% and raw material price by 100% may increase the specific costs up to 50%.     

Wood fuel supply as a function of forest owner preferences and management styles

The commercial demand for wood fuel is rapidly increasing in Sweden, and the domestic supply comes primarily from private non-industrial forest owners. A model was developed to analyse decision-making among these private forest owners. The model covers five factors: economics, transaction costs, concerns about soil fertility, forestry, and previous experience. It was applied in a survey among forest owners in four communities in central Sweden in 1999. Wood fuels had been sold from 60% of the estates. Analysis suggests that the price paid had little influence on the decision to sell. Transaction costs had been alleviated by the traditional timber buyer organizing the fuel trade, and by minimizing measurement in the forest. The primary reason for selling wood fuel was that the harvesting operation cleared the ground of debris. There is a general concern for loss in soil fertility due to wood fuel harvesting which is why some owners do not sell forest fuels. Two types of fuel-selling forest owners were identified: (1) an active manager seeking different gains from wood fuel harvest, and (2) an owner who primarily relies on the advice of the timber buyer. The findings indicate that large-scale traders of wood fuels have to be active in increasing supply, making direct contact with forest owners, and connecting trade with information on ecological and silvicultural effects. Offering ash recycling may enhance supply more than marginal price increases.     

External costs of electricity generation options in Lithuania

This article deals with external cost of electricity generation in Lithuania. The external costs of electricity generation are the most important environmental criteria shaping decisions within the electricity system. External costs of electricity generation were calculated based on ExternE methodology for Lithuania during EU (European Union) Framework 6 project Cost Assessment for Sustainable Energy Systems (CASES). The article presents the methodology and results of external costs of electricity generation in Lithuania. The assessment of external costs provided that future energy policy should be oriented towards the renewable energy generation technologies having the lowest external costs. External costs for electricity generation technologies were analysed in terms of external costs categories, electricity generation technologies life cycle stages and time frame 2010–2030.     

试析“机外停车”对内燃机车燃油消耗的影响

提出“机外停车”增加了牵引运行燃油消耗量;以平直线路上“机外停车”为例,进行了能耗计算分析,“机外停车”增加了额外能耗;得出减少“机外停车”次数是控制运输成本的有效方法之一。     

Lowering Saudi Arabia's fuel consumption and energy system costs without increasing end consumer prices

Using a multi-sector equilibrium model of the Saudi energy system that handles administered prices in a mixed-complementarity formulation, we present results from a set of policy scenarios that lower oil consumption in the country. Some of these scenarios are the solutions to Mathematical Programs subject to Equilibrium Constraints (MPECs) that maximize the net economic gain for the Saudi economy. The policies examined have the potential to generate economic gains exceeding 23 billion USD in 2011, or about 4% of Saudi Arabia's GDP. This economic gain comes mainly from inter-sectoral fuel pricing policies that incent shifting the mix in technologies that generate electricity and produce water from energy intensive technologies to more efficient ones. We show that when complemented by credits for investments in solar and nuclear power generation capacities, a modest increase in the transfer prices of fuels among sectors is sufficient to produce economic gains close to those achieved by deregulating transfer prices. The approach we develop here is an alternative to the classic recommendation of deregulating inter-sectoral fuel prices in situations where the conditions for successful liberalized markets do not exist. It is a template for introducing the notions of incentivizing behavior using prices into countries that rely more on administrative procedures than markets, leading to a deeper understanding of how markets can lead to economic gain.     

Comparison of carbon dioxide and nuclear waste storage costs in Lithuania

Nuclear power and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are key greenhouse gas mitigation options under consideration across the world. Both technologies imply long-term waste management challenge. Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nuclear waste has much in common, and valuable lessons can be learnt from a comparison. Seeking to compare these technologies economic, social and environmental criteria need to be selected and expressed in terms of indicators. Very important issue is costs and economics of geological storage of carbon dioxide and nuclear waste. The costs of storage are one of the main indicators for assessment of technologies in terms of economic criteria.The paper defines the costs of the geological storage of CO₂ and nuclear waste in Lithuania, drawing also on insights from other parts of the world. The costs of carbon dioxide and nuclear waste storage are evaluated in UScnt/kWh and compared. The paper critically compares the characteristics and location of the both sources of and storage options for CO₂ and nuclear waste in Lithuania. It discusses the main costs categories for carbon dioxide and nuclear waste storage. The full range of potential geological storage options is considered and the most reliable options for carbon dioxide and nuclear waste are selected for the comparative costs assessment.     

A case study on the costs and the fuel consumption of harvesting,transporting, and chipping chains for logging residues in Japan

The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of a harvesting and transporting system for logging residues including the cost, energy, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) effectiveness of fossil energy substitution with logging residues in Japan. “A harvesting and transporting system for logging residues” was constructed with reference to some European countries, where the utilization of bioenergy is making steady progress, and examined based on field experiments in Japanese forestry. The feasibility of the system was discussed from the standpoints of cost, energy, and CO₂, and the system was compared with those of European countries. Concerning the system, it is desirable that the process of chipper comminuting should be incorporated into the system as early as possible. Although such a system is not particularly feasible in Japan from the standpoint of cost, it is suggested that it should be possible for Japan to reduce the domestic CO₂ emissions by utilizing logging residues as alternative energy resources. A comparison with the European countries and a preliminary sensitivity analysis to the system demonstrate that the technical development to reduce the total cost, e.g., improving the forwarding and transporting efficiency, is essential for realizing bioenergy utilization in Japan.     

Wood fuel trade in European Union

Wood fuels are the most important alternatives of fossil fuel which is one of the reasons of the climate changes in the world and of global warming. Wood fuels, which have an important role in the cause of both providing energy requirement of production units and heating for household and healing energy deficit, disperse very less CO₂ than fossil fuels to atmosphere. Bio-fuels are used to provide energy requirement among EU countries like using in lots of developed countries. Resources having by lots developed countries and EU countries are not at enough level for bio-fuels. For this reason, trade of bio-fuels has been become in an important situation in recent years. In this study, import and export levels of bio-fuels of EU countries and Turkey, which is a candidate for union, were investigated between 2003 and 2006. The date is obtained from European Forest Institute (EFI) forest products trade flow database. As a result of the study, while rises were determined in years, it is determined that the most important exporters are Germany, Italy, Latvia and Poland and the most important importers are Germany, Italy, Belgium and UK. It is seen that Turkey has a low trade level in selected product groups.     

Assessment of wood fuel use for energy generation in Lithuania

The paper investigates possibilities to use solid biomass (wood) resources. It provides detailed analysis on distribution of Lithuanian wood resources and evaluates possibilities to develop the use of above resources for heat and power generation. European Union as well as Lithuanian legislation declares promotion measures for wood as fuel for energy generation. Legal documents suggest implementation via subsidizing of raw material for production of wood chips for boiler-houses and adopting specific promotion program for the use of forestry biomass for boiler-houses according to which the difference between price and costs should be subsidized for producers of such raw material.Directive 2009/28/EB obligates separate countries to develop National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAP), which would provide specific promotion schemes and target indicators for each year (up to year 2020). According to this Directive the EU RES share in final energy consumption should reach 20%, and for Lithuanian this share should be no less than 23%, while district heating systems should use no less than 70%. At present the total capacity of wood-chip-fueled boilers reached above 476.1 MW. No series obstacles can be seen for extension of wood fuel use. The renewable energy compromise 18.1% of primary energy annual gross inland consumption and cut of the CO₂ emissions about 6% compared with the level on 1990. According to the Kyoto Protocol Lithuania must reduced green gas emissions 8% in the period 2008–2012. These goals can be realised by increasing of the use of biomass as fuel for the energy production.     

Determining long-term chipper usage,productivity and fuel consumption

The Authors surveyed 6 industrial chipping operations for a whole work year, collecting data about machine usage, product output, fuel consumption and chipper knife wear. Despite the challenging work conditions offered by mountain operations, industrial chipping contractors manage to achieve a high machine use, ranging from 500 to over 2,500 h year⁻¹. Product output varies between 18,000 and over 120,000 m³ loose chips per year. In order to acquire enough jobs, operators may travel between 1,500 to over 20,000 km in a year. Industrial chipping contractors adopt different operational strategies to achieve their production targets, and they equip accordingly. Some operators prefer to tap smaller local areas and opt for smaller tractor-powered chippers, which are less powerful and productive than larger independent-engine units, but cheaper and capable of negotiating low-standard forest roads. Others prefer to explore larger areas and achieve higher product outputs, and they opt for larger independent-engine chippers, often mounted on trucks. Long term productivity varies with machine type: tractor-powered units produce between 40 and 50 m³ loose chips per hour, whereas larger independent-engine chippers produce between 60 and 90 m³ loose chips per hour. Specific fuel consumption is about 0.5 L diesel per m³ loose chips, regardless of chipper type. A sharp knife set can process between 200 and 1,500 m³ loose chips before getting dull. Disposable knives last longer and are cheaper to manage than standard re-usable knives.     

Eco-driving training and fuel consumption: Impact,heterogeneity and sustainability

In this paper, we assess the impact of an eco-driving training session on fuel consumption using panel data. A random coefficient model is estimated to measure the effect of the course over a ten-month period, controlling for confounding factors and individual heterogeneity. We find that eco-driving training induced average city and highway fuel consumption reductions of 4.6% and 2.9% respectively. The effects are highly heterogeneous between individuals, with standard deviations of about 5%. Drivers' socio-demographic characteristics are not helpful to explain these discrepancies but we find that drivers of vehicles with manual transmissions achieve significantly larger reductions: 10% on city roads and 8% on highways. Finally, we show that reductions faded gradually after the course. City reductions go from 4.6% to 2.5% within ten months. Highway fuel use decreases average 3.5% in the first ten weeks after the course but become statistically insignificant after about thirty weeks. Overall, the average impact translates into an annual fuel saving cost of about 60$ per driver.     

Estimating road transport fuel consumption in Ecuador

Road transport is one of the sectors with highest energy consumptions in the planet, with large dependence of fossil fuels, and contribution for global greenhouse gas emissions. Although, Latin America is not a high-energy consumer, its share in global consumption is expected to grow, especially in the transportation sector. This make essential for developing countries the adoption of better policies to identify the vehicle groups with largest fuel demands. The present study describes the VKT technique to disaggregate road transport energy consumption by vehicle type, applied to the road transportation system of Ecuador. It also describes the procedures performed to estimate the variables required to run the model, and some of the practical applications that be used to create public policies. Results show as the biggest fuel consumers the heavy-duty freight cargo, followed by light duty vehicles. The estimation of greenhouse gas emissions evidence that road transport released 14.3 million tons of CO₂ in 2012. When fuel consumption is compared by it costs, it can be confirmed that Ecuadorean Government covered, through subsidies, for 68% of the annual fuel costs of national road transport, demonstrating the importance of restructuring these expenditures in order to achieve an efficient road transport system.     

Wood waste fuel in the secondary wood products industries

The secondary wood products industry is a suitable candidate for energy recovery from waste. As a whole, the industry consumes about 150 × 10⁹ Btu of purchased fuels and electricity. The wood scrap generated by this industry is sufficient to displace the purchased fuels and electricity if its energy were recovered. The major hurdle inhibiting widespread application of energy recovery technology is the extremely high share of small firms within the industry. The best choice for a smaller manufacturer is direct combustion in a boiler for process and space heat. A straightforward procedure is developed to provide an assessment of the economic feasibility of such boilers for individual firms within the industry. The procedure is used to estimate the amount of wood waste required and the quantity of heat produced in order to achieve rapid payback. These are compared with actual conditions to provide a first estimate of economic feasibility.     

Effects of drivetrain hybridization on fuel economy,performance and costs of a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle

Fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEVs) are considered to be the most attractive long-term option for passenger cars. Several barriers, such as cost, durability and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, must be overcome for a wider use of FCHEVs. In this paper, a mid-sized FCHEV is modeled and simulated in ADVISOR to analyze the influence of hybridization factor on vehicle performance and costs. The results are compared with those of the Toyota Mirai in order to find the optimum size of the fuel cell stack and the number of battery modules that meet various driving requirements, minimize hydrogen consumption and vehicle cost. The best results are obtained by reducing the fuel cell stack power by 58%. A 7.7% increase in equivalent fuel economy (71.6 MPGe) and a reduction of 25% in the vehicle cost is achieved.     

Simulation of rural household fuel consumption in Bangladesh

We present a quantitative dynamic simulation model as a system study for rural household-biomass fuel consumption in LDCs such as Bangladesh. The rural areas of Bangladesh serve for model validation. The parameters, constants and initial values in the model represent present conditions. The performance of the system has been evaluated by incorporating alternative policies, and the model has been simulated to project the status of the system over an extended period of time. Several variables have been selected to assess system response as well as the impacts of policies. An assessment of household-biomass fuel consumption impact on environmental degradation is made for deforestation.     

Framing car fuel efficiency: linearity heuristic for fuel consumption and fuel-efficiency ratings

People are sensitive to the way information on fuel efficiency is conveyed. When the fuel efficiency of cars is framed in terms of fuel per distance (FPD; e.g. l/100 km), instead of distance per units of fuel (DPF; e.g. km/l), people have a more accurate perception of potential fuel savings. People tend to treat both DPF and FPD as linearly related to fuel consumption, while the relationship between DPF and fuel consumption is in fact curvilinear. We examined whether these incorrect assessments would also affect hypothetical car purchase choices in situations where cars also differ in relevant aspects other than fuel efficiency. Three experimental studies suggest that participants consistently employed a linearity heuristic, resulting in less optimal car choices in a DPF than in a FPD frame, and that this linearity heuristic for fuel efficiency with fuel consumption persists in the face of variations of important characteristics unrelated to fuel efficiency.     

The effects of rising energy costs and transportation mode mix on forest fuel procurement costs

Since fossil fuels have been broadly recognized as a non-renewable energy source that threatens the climate, sustainable and CO₂ neutral energy sources - such as forest fuels - are being promoted in Europe, instead. With the expeditiously growing forest fuel demand, the strategic problem of how to design a cost-efficient distribution network has evolved. This paper presents an MILP model, comprising decisions on modes of transportation and spatial arrangement of terminals, in order to design a forest fuel supply network for Austria. The MILP model is used to evaluate the impacts of rising energy costs on procurement sources, transport mix and procurement costs on a national scale, based on the example of Austria. A 20% increase of energy costs results in a procurement cost increase of 7%, and another 20% increase of energy costs would have similar results. While domestic waterways become more important as a result of the first energy cost increase, rail only does so after the second. One way to decrease procurement costs would be to reduce the share of empty trips with truck and trailer. Reducing this share by 10% decreases the average procurement costs by up to 20%. Routing influences the modal split considerably, and the truck transport share increases from 86% to 97%, accordingly. Increasing forest fuel imports by large CHPs lowers domestic competition and also enables smaller plants to cut their procurement costs. Rising forest fuel imports via ship will not significantly decrease domestic market shares, but they will reduce procurement costs considerably.     

Wood pellet production costs under Austrian and in comparison to Swedish framework conditions

Owing to the rapidly increasing importance of pellets as high-quality biomass fuel in Austria and Europe within the last years, many companies, mainly from the wood industry, are thinking of entering this market. The calculation of the production costs before starting a pellet plant is essential for an economic operation. Based on comprehensive investigations within the EU-ALTENER project “An Integrated European Market for Densified Biomass Fuels” calculations of the pellet production costs loco factory for different framework conditions with basic data based on already realised plants as well as a questionnaire survey of pellet producers in Austria, South Tyrol and Sweden have been performed.

The production costs for wood pellets are mainly influenced by the raw material costs and, in the case of using wet raw materials, by the drying costs. Depending on the framework conditions these two parameters can contribute up to one-third of the total pellet production costs. Other important parameters influencing the pellet production costs are the plant utilisation (number of shifts per week) as well as the availability of the plant. For an economic production of wood pellets at least three shifts per day at 5 days per week are necessary. An optimum would be an operation at 7 days per week. A low plant availability also leads to greatly increased pellet production costs. A plant availability of 85–90% should therefore be achieved.

The calculations show that a wood pellet production is possible both in small-scale (production rates of some hundred tonnes per year) as well as in large-scale plants (some ten thousand tonnes per year). However, especially for small-scale units it is very important to take care of the specific framework conditions of the producer, because the risk of a non-economic pellet production is considerably higher than for large-scale systems.

The direct comparison of typical pellet production costs in Austria and Sweden showed the Swedish pellet production costs to be considerably lower due to larger plant capacities, the combination of pellet production and biomass CHP or biomass district heating plants and the implementation of technologies which allow an efficient heat recovery from the dryers. Moreover, another difference between the Austrian and the Swedish framework conditions is the price of electricity, which is much lower in Sweden.     

Geographical problems of allocation in the Soviet fuel supply

This article examines the major problems facing Soviet planners in meeting fuel demand for boiler and furance uses in the USSR — the most flexible sector of the energy economy where direct substitution among energy sources is technically and economically at its most feasible. Data limitations and the interdependent nature of the whole fuel economy make the consistent rigid separation of this sector impossible and unprofitable. Accordingly, some attention is given to the fuel mix as a whole and to aggregate energy projections and questions of policy. (Coke is not covered.)     

Self-regulating passive fuel supply for small direct methanol fuel cells operating in all orientations

A microfluidic fuel supply concept for passive and portable direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) that operates in all spatial orientations is presented. The concept has been proven by fabricating and testing a passive DMFC prototype. Methanol transport at the anode is propelled by the surface energy of deformed carbon dioxide bubbles, generated as a reaction product during DMFC operation. The experimental study reveals that in any orientation, the proposed pumping mechanism transports at least 3.5 times more methanol to the reactive area of the DMFC than the stoichiometry of the methanol oxidation would require to sustain DMFC operation. Additionally, the flow rates closely follow the applied electric load; hence the pumping mechanism is self-regulating. Oxygen is supplied to the cathode by diffusion and the reaction product water is transported out of the fuel cell along a continuous capillary pressure gradient. Results are presented that demonstrate the continuous passive operation for more than 40 h at ambient temperature with a power output of p = 4 mW cm⁻² in the preferred vertical orientation and of p = 3.2 mW cm⁻² in the least favorable horizontal orientation with the anode facing downwards.