Manejo de matorrales y bioenergía

Abstract

The available biomass in northern Patagonia forests gives to the region a high bioenergy potential. For instance, silvicultural management in these forests could leave a large amount of biomass suitable for energy purposes. Nevertheless, population density in Patagonia is low, which entails that the resource should be transported long distances as far as the consumption centers, undermining the development of bioenergy in this region. In this work, we characterize the woods of species growing in northern Patagonia shrublands by means of physical-chemical parameters of energy interest. Then, we combine these parameters with the amount of woody residues produced by varying-intensity thinning. By using a spatially explicit approach, we analyzed the balance between supply and energy cost for extraction and transport of the waste up to marketing centers. Our work represents a first spatial approximation quantifying the bioenergy potential of northern Patagonia shrublands. Given the lack of regional knowledge about the supply of biomass for energy purposes, our results have applied importance for energy planning.