7 February 2012
UNECE/FAO Enquiry Finds that Wood Accounts for 47 Percent of UNECE Renewable Energy
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The UN Economic Commission for Europe and the Food and Agriculture Organization (UNECE/FAO) Joint Wood Energy Enquiry (JWEE) found that wood accounts for 47% of renewable energy supply in the UNECE region.

UNECE3 February 2012: The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have published the results of their Joint Wood Energy Enquiry (JWEE), a biennial questionnaire that gathers information about the role of wood energy within Europe.

The Enquiry found that wood accounts for 47% of renewable energy supply in the UNECE region. The study identified trends in uses of wood energy, highlighting that the amount of wood used for energy purposes grew by 2.7% each year between 2005 and 2009. JWEE further noted a “slight decline” in the role of wood energy among renewables, attributing this to the growing importance of solar and wind energy in the region. The Enquiry also examined the sources of wood energy, with co-products and residues from forest-based industries, woody biomass, and recovered waste wood being most common.

On the use of wood energy, JWEE found industrial use highest in the US, Ireland, Slovakia, Belgium, Finland and Sweden, while residential use is most prevalent in Serbia, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. [UNECE Press Release][Joint Wood Energy Enquiry Website][Joint Wood Energy Enquiry Data Sheet]