Silvicultural activities (thinning, pruning, harvesting) generate a significant amount of wood that is suitable for sawmill and wood-based industries, due to their type,shape and/or poor quality. Instead of being left in forests, this wood can be used as fuel to produce energy, representing an additional source of income for forest owners.
What types of wood for energy production?
Coppices in deciduous forest, wood from clearing or thinning provide a large quantity of small and “low quality” wood. They are generally intended for the production of wood-energy. Tree tops and branches, as well as purges left after logging can also be a source of wood energy.
All this woody material can be left for drying; allowing leaves and bark to return to the soil as they contain the majority of the mineral elements necessary for the soil to maintain its fertility.
Wood outside forests
Maintenance of parks and gardens, roadsides, railway or riversides requires regular felling and thinning. Similarly, isolated hedges or trees can produce significant amounts of wood-energy.