The Potential for Production of Biomass for Biofuel by the Cultivation of Hybrid Poplar and Hybrid Aspen in the South of Sweden

Abstract

More and more people are starting to realize that we must begin now to build a society that does not affect the environment (Lawson, 2008, Anonymous, 2010). What we are doing today is completely decisive for the development of the society of tomorrow. Two lines in the development of the society of the future are obvious. Either world leaders really start immediately to govern the development of the welfare states in an ecological and sustainable direction, so as to set an example and model for developing countries; or the politicians of the world do nothing and the society of the future will be created from the resultant chaos. An example of what should be done now is what politicians did 40 years ago. As a direct consequence of the oil crisis in 1973, a new branch of the UN organization for food and agriculture (FAO) was set up in November 1974 on the initiative of Dr. Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the USA (Anonymous, 2008). The name of this new organization was the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the three objectives were (1) to administrate the need for oil in the Western World and distribute the existing oil resources within this region, if the delivery of oil from the Middle East was interrupted. The new organization s task was also (2) to execute a multilateral program for more effective use of energy and (3) to launch an advanced programme for research on new energy sources. The importance of IEA was strengthened by the next oil crisis in 1978. Different countries became responsible for different parts of the organization. Sweden was chosen as Operating Agency for Energy from Biomass with Professors Gustaf Siren and P-O Nilsson at the head, both at the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Sweden (Christersson et al., 2008). Something similar should be done today, but compare this thinking with the results of the meeting in Copenhagen and Cancun, Mexico! In Sweden at that time forestry was one of the most important industries with spruce (Picea abies) and pine (Pinus sylvestris) as totally dominant tree species. Professor Nilsson worked with the waste products from this forest industry, e.g. tops and branches from clear-cut areas, but also with sawdust from the sawmills, and black liqueur from the paper industry (Doherty et al., 2002). But Professor Siren started to think along new lines (Siren, 1974, Siren et al., 1983). He had previously battled against encroaching fast-growing seedlings of Salix (willow) and Populus