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Trees for Energy

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Tree Grower articles

  • Light my fire (Access: unrestricted)
    Hamish Levack, February 2019
    During a field day at the Hokitika conference in 2016 we heard about the value of growing some trees for firewood, a concept which was at odds with those growing…
  • Growing a bio-fuelled New Zealand (Access: unrestricted)
    Michelle Harnett, May 2018
    Put a tree into the tank of your tractor, or truck, or even your private jet. Large-scale biofuel production and use in New Zealand is within our grasp, if we…
  • Consequences of the current fall in energy prices (Access: unrestricted)
    Wink Sutton, May 2015
    On 17 December 2014 the New Zealand ethical investment company Prometheus collapsed and was put into receivership. The company invested in renewable energy areas such as bioenergy, solar and wind…
  • The need for fuel wood (Access: unrestricted)
    Wink Sutton, November 2014
    On a recent cruise we visited several countries in the Middle East including India and Egypt. As a forester I was well aware of the absence of trees but very…
  • Developing a wood energy industry in Central Otago (Access: unrestricted)
    Rhys Millar, August 2014
    Wood energy for heating has been around for a long time and most New Zealanders will be familiar with drying and storing wood for winter, preparing and starting the fire,…
  • Realising the opportunities for biofuels and bioproducts (Access: unrestricted)
    Peter Morgan, August 2012
    The one-day conference I attended was mainly about bringing together as many existing and potential stakeholders in all areas of bio-activity as they relate to the forest industry sector. Presentations…
  • Bioenergy demonstration planting, Bay of Plenty (Access: unrestricted)
    Ian Nicholas and Kevin Snowdon, May 2011
    As part of a Sustainable Farming Fund project evaluating willow as a feedstock for ethanol production in the Taupo area, a demonstration planting was established in 2006 on Whakapoungakau Lands…
  • Hardwood in effluent schemes (Access: unrestricted)
    Ian Nicholas, Angus Gordon, Stephen Pearce and Marie Heaphy, November 2010
    The treatment of waste water is of increasing value to land managers, local councils and small communities in New Zealand. Trees have been used for waste water treatment at various…
  • Willow biomass in the Taupo region (Access: unrestricted)
    Ian Nicholas, Kevin Snowdon and Ian McIvor, November 2010
    The growth of shrub willows have been investigated for bioenergy and as a biopolymer resource in the Taupo area since 2004. Background information and some results have been presented in…
  • Energy farming with willow near Taupo (Access: unrestricted)
    Ian McIvor, Ian Nicholas and Kevin Snowdon, February 2009
    The end of cheap oil now is a reality and there is growing evidence of the connection between climate change and carbon emissions’, wrote David Wright, chairman of the New…
  • Forest residues for bioenergy (Access: unrestricted)
    Peter Hall, November 2007
    After forest harvesting there is inevitably material left behind that is not suitable for selling as logs. Rather than leave this to rot, there are a number of ways in…
  • Short rotation coppice willow as low carbon bioenergy farming (Access: unrestricted)
    Ian McIvor, November 2007
    Bioenergy is not new. Before the invention of the steam engine and internal combustion engine society was dependent on horsepower of a different kind − the real horsepower. Horses needed biofuel…
  • Biofuel from biomass – a future opportunity? (Access: unrestricted)
    Rick Swan, November 2006
    Apart from a brief respite in the price of oil in recent months, the price has generally been escalating. There is reason to believe that peak oil production has been…

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Blogs

  • Transitioning to a low carbon energy future: Brian Cox's Blog, June 27, 2019
    The talk of transitioning to a low carbon energy future seems to be more about continuing the status quo rather than actually having a transformation. It seems also to be…
  • Christchurch hospital will soon be using biomass fuel: Brian Cox's Blog, March 11, 2019
    The decision by the Canterbury District Health Board and the Government to install two biomass fuelled boilers at Christchurch hospital to replace the existing coal fuelled boilers demonstrates the increasing…
  • Residues as fuel: Brian Cox's Blog, February 18, 2019
    The decision by the Government of British Columbia to introduce policy reforms which require greater added value processing of wood within Canada, rather than export of unprocessed logs, shows that…
  • Biomass as energy: Rik Deaton's Blog, September 05, 2016
    I have a strong interest in the biomass-as-energy-source sector of renewable energy generation and I see it as inevitable that this country’s incomprehensible barriers to uptake will shortly be torn…
  • New strategies for expansion of the bioenergy and biofuels market: Brian Cox's Blog, August 17, 2016
    Recent work to identify the amount of greenhouse gas emission reductions that the bioenergy sector could contribute to achievement of the Paris climate change emission reduction targets has shown that…

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Articles and Reports

  • Bioenergy opportunities for New Zealand's future energy needs
    Bioenergy Association (Press release), September 2010 (Access: unrestricted)
    Within 30 years, more than a quarter of New Zealand's energy needs and nearly a third of our transport fuels could come from energy crops and materials that are currently…

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Headlines

  • Govt now needs to focus on its Energy Efficiency Strategy June 2017
    The Bioenergy Association says it’s pleased the Government’s refresh of the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (NZEECS) focuses on the heat and transport opportunities available across New Zealand…

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