Tools for the analysis of Agro-forest Biomass for Energy Production

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a renewed interest toward the use of Agro-Forest Biomass (A.F.B.) for energy production both at political (EU as well as Italian) and users level. Therefore, research efforts have been developed to the study of possibility and consequences of using A.F.B. for energy production. In the Italian context, the principal sector the introduction of such resources is possible, is represented by A.F.B. used for domestic heating systems. This paper focuses on an application of S.WO.T. analysis at national level, taking into account the following aspects: economic variables, social-cultura1 influence, and technical aspects. More specifically, the economic evaluation carried out in this paper shows the strong competitiveness of firewood in comparison with the traditional fossil fuels, above al1 if the firewood is used in «energy saving technology plants». However the evaluation has shown a good competitiveness of the finished biomasses (pellets and briquettes), and good potentiality for a long term development of this market.