|
|
Newsletter
April/May 2016 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
By John Greene
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently initiated significant certification changes that will have an extensive, positive impact on America's forest products industry as well as private forest ownership. The USGCB, the governing body for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating and certification structure, announced that it will officially recognize wood and paper certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and other PEFC-affiliated programs within its LEED building standard. The goal of this new pilot Alternative Compliance Path (ACP) is to encourage environmentally responsible forest management and eliminate illegal wood from the building materials supply chain.
Continue reading → ...»
| |
|
By Forest2Market
For project developers and investors pursuing greener replacements for petroleum-based fuels and chemicals, the choice of feedstock is a critical early decision point. From algae and animal and vegetable fats to agricultural crops and municipal solid waste, the possibilities are numerous. As the oldest energy source on the planet, wood is a logical choice as a biofuels or biochemicals feedstock.
| |
|
FedEx Commits to Biofuels Derived from Healthy Western Forests
By John Greene
Despite the tremendous drop in oil prices over the last year and the subsequent appeal of fossil fuels for energy, the cellulosic and advanced biofuels sector is forging ahead with support from a global industry that consumes massive quantities of fuel. As we have noted, the aviation industry has demonstrated a commitment to reducing its emissions and reliance on fossil fuels by expanding its energy portfolio to include more fuels manufactured from renewable resources. To provide some insight into the volume of fuel this industry consumes, the US air transportation sector alone used over 16.7 billion gallons of fuel in 2015.
Continue reading → ...»
| |
|
|
Wood Remains the Preferred, Primary Renewable Energy Source in Europe
By John Greene
As we recently noted, the global resurgence in wood production has been driven in part by the popularity and expansion of wood pellets, which are primarily being used for thermal heating purposes at both the consumer and industrial levels. While most of the recent growth in consumption has occurred in Europe, the technology is certainly scalable and usable as a replacement for fossil energy virtually anywhere. Putting the numbers in perspective, Europe consumed 78 percent of the 26 million tons of wood pellets produced globally in 2014.
Continue reading → ...»
| |
|
We have written extensively about the challenges associated with procuring wood from an increasingly fractured supply base, an issue that Fred Souba addressed just last month in his Lake States industry analysis. However, this trend is not unique to a single region; one question I often hear when speaking to landowners is, "How much is the logger or dealer getting for my timber at the mill?"
Continue reading → ...»
| |
|
By John Greene
Per a newly-released report from a joint collaboration between the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the Frankfurt School (FS), the annual global investment in new renewables capacity in 2015 was $266 billion-more than double the estimated $130 billion invested in coal and gas power stations in 2015. Total investments in renewables, including early-stage technology and R&D, as well as spending on new capacity was $286 billion or 3 percent higher than the previous record set in 2011. Since 2004, the world has invested an impressive $2.3 trillion in renewable energy.
| |
|
By Gordon Culbertson
Global demand for goods teaches us a lot about the malleability of market trends and developments, as well as new opportunities that exist to service these markets. The forest products industry is no different; if we know where to look, markets for forest raw materials exist in every corner of the earth. The advent of the export wood pellet industry in the US South, for instance, is a market that has grown from zero in 2008 to 3.6 million tons in 2014 due to European demand.
| |
|
|
|
Forest2Market®
15720 Brixham Hill Ave., Suite 550
Charlotte, NC 28277-2845
Phone: (704) 540-1440
Fax: (704) 540-6301 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
