Geographical analysis of demand and supply of wood fuel in Italy

Abstract

Energy from biomasses and, in particular, from woody biomasses, is part of the international political and economical debate. In order to allow a more consistent assessment of national potential resources, an analysis has been performed to provide an overall prospect of the use and of the sustainable productivity of woody fuel in Italy. The study is based on the Integrated Supply/Demand Overview Mapping (WISDOM) methodology which aim to analyse a geographical region quantifying the use and the production of woody fuel. Available homogeneous data over Italy were used: ENEA statistics for the national uses of woody fuel, ISTAT statistics for urbanisation level and elevation zone, Corine Land Cover 2000 map (CLC2000) for land use, the first Italian National Forest Inventory (IFNI 85) and volume tables for productivity estimates and other maps (road network, urban areas, digital terrain model) for accessibility limitations. A first map of the annual balance between accessible potential productivity and domestic uses of woody fuel for energy is presented and hereby discussed.