The Future of Wood in Slovenia

Online, March 12, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The top three global energy sources are oil, coal and natural gas;and these three sources supply about 86% of the world's energy requirements.There are many types of renewable energy including hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar, tidal and wave, and biomass energy. Although oil, coal and natural gas are expected to remain the world's primary sources of energy, renewable energy, including hydroelectric power, is projected to increase to 100 quadrillion.British Thermal Units. Global wood pellet production was approximately 12 million metric tons in 2009 and is predicted to increase to 100 million metric tons by 2020.

Wood pellets are one type of biomass energy. They are primarily manufactured by wood pellet machine with wood waste, including sawdust, shavings and wood chips, which are byproducts of the manufacture of lumber, furniture and other forest products.

Slovenia is one of the most densely forested countries in Europe with 57.7% of its territory covered by forests. Dominant forest types are beech, fir-beech and beech-oak, which have a relatively high production capacity. And they supply consistent raw materials for wood pellet production.

In Slovenia forestry products have a long tradition in trading. A well-organized online trading platform has been working for years already. This biomass-trading portal is powered by the Agency of Efficiency Energy Use and is available in English and in Slovenian. The portal was initiated by a governmental project on" Removing barriers to the increased use of biomass in Slovenia" which was supported by the Global Environment Facility. The government also plans to increase the country's biomass share in primary energy up to 6.5%.