A case study on the costs and the fuel consumption of harvesting, transporting, and chipping chains for logging residues in Japan

The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of a harvesting and transporting system for logging residues including the cost, energy, and carbon dioxide (CO 2) effectiveness of fossil energy substitution with logging residues in Japan. “A harvesting and transporting system for logging residues” was constructed with reference to some European countries, where the utilization of bioenergy is making steady progress, and examined based on field experiments in Japanese forestry. The feasibility of the system was discussed from the standpoints of cost, energy, and CO 2, and the system was compared with those of European countries. Concerning the system, it is desirable that the process of chipper comminuting should be incorporated into the system as early as possible. Although such a system is not particularly feasible in Japan from the standpoint of cost, it is suggested that it should be possible for Japan to reduce the domestic CO 2 emissions by utilizing logging residues as alternative energy resources. A comparison with the European countries and a preliminary sensitivity analysis to the system demonstrate that the technical development to reduce the total cost, e.g., improving the forwarding and transporting efficiency, is essential for realizing bioenergy utilization in Japan.