Potential of Forest Fuels for Producing Electrical Energy

Annual aboveground wood increment in the world's forests is approximately 12.9 billion metric tons. At 50 percent accessibility, about 6.5 billion tons are available for all wood uses. On the assumption of 3.5 x 106 kcal/ton of air-dried wood, a thermal-electric conversion of about 35 percent, and a power station running at 60 percent operating efficiency, then one megawatt per year requires about 6,200 tons of wood annually. Therefore, if all wood was used for electrical generation, maximum production from the world's forests would amount to 1.0 x 106 mWe (megawatts electric), without dipping into capital. This is roughly twice the equivalent of the present U.S. generating capacity, and half that projected for the year 2000.