Contribution of wood energy to global avoided fossil emissions
Loading...
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Electrical Engineering |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
95
Series
Abstract
Wood energy has long contributed to traditional and modern energy systems, but its global role in reducing fossil emissions remains underexplored. This thesis explored the amount of fossil emissions may have been avoided by using wood energy historically. To address this, a quantitative framework was developed based on harmonised international energy statistics across countries from 1990 to 2022. A key contribution of this thesis was the use of weighted average emission factors across 27 application categories, which allows for a more refined estimation model of avoided fossil emissions. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of the results, based on utilization efficiency, emission factors, and data quality. The results of the study showed that the amount of avoided fossil emissions continued to grow in the past three decades, from 950 to 1,260 Mt CO2-eq. We also observed a structural shift: while traditional household biomass utilisation remained dominant, industrial applications of wood energy (e.g. pulp and paper, CHP, etc.) were rapidly expanding due to policy support and technology adoption. However, data limitations remain a significant barrier to the reliability of the results. Datasets in many countries were based on estimation, plus, there's a lack of authoritative, country-specific efficiency factors. These gaps limit the accuracy of current assessments.Description
Supervisor
Keppo, IlkkaThesis advisor
Heräjärvi, HenrikTaylor, Adam