Costs, CO2 emissions, and energy balances of applying nordic slash recovery methods in British Columbia.

Abstract

This paper evaluates the costs, CO2 emissions and energy balances associated with three potential systems for recovering roadside slash in British Columbia, Canada, in which the biomass is transported as slash, hogfuel or bundles. Costs, CO2 emissions and energy balances of all three systems showed strong dependence on transportation distance and considerably weaker dependence on slash amounts at landing (cutting block size). The results indicate that the hogfuel system is the cheapest, per unit delivered biomass, whereas the bundle system is the most expensive system when transportation distances are short (<100 km) and the slash system is the most expensive when transportation distances exceed 100 km. However, the viability of the systems is strongly dependent on payload assumptions.