Publications
A decade of wood energy activities within the Nairobi Programme of Action - FAO Forestry Paper 108
1993
At the beginning of the 80's, during the "oil crisis", the use of wood fuels by poor people was seen as the cause of deforestation and desertification. It is now recognized that factors other than the fuelwood and charcoal are the chief causes of the deforestation process such as farming, forest fires and industrial use of forests for which it is not always poor people who are responsible.
Energy conservation in the mechanical forest industries - FAO Forestry Paper 93
1991
Although energy conservation has played an important role in improving the energy efficiency of forest industries in the industrialized world, it has received less attention by those industries in the developing countries. For these countries, energy conservation would be especially important since most of them spend large amounts of valuable foreign currency on their fuel imports. Increased energy efficiency would also reduce their manufacturing costs.
A new approach to energy planning for sustainable rural development
1990
This document presents a brief account of the work of FAO in the design and development of the new integrated approach for energy planning for sustainable agriculture and rural development.
Technical and economic aspects of using wood fuels in rural industries
1987
In this publication, FAO presents an important aspect in the use of wood-based fuels. Fuelwood is well known as a domestic fuel for cooking and heating in both rural and urban areas. However, from several studies carried out in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it has been realized that as well as being used for domestic purposes, fuelwood is also an important fuel in many rural processing industries and village applications.
Simple technologies for charcoal making - FAO Forestry Paper 41
1987
Charcoal in developing countries is mainly used as domestic fuel for cooking and heating but it is also an important industrial fuel. Large amounts are used in foundries and forges; in the extraction and refining of metals, especially iron, and in numerous other metallurgical and chemical applications. In those developing countries with abundant forest resources the export of charcoal can be a profitable industry.
Wood gas as engine fuel - FAO Forestry Paper 72
1986
Wood gasifiers played an important role in the past in the substitution of oil-based fuels in internal combustion engines, but fell into disuse after the Second World War because of their economic and technical disadvantages as compared with relatively inexpensive imported fuels.
Industrial charcoal making - FAO Forestry Paper 63
1985
Charcoal making is an old and honourable trade. Its origins are lost in prehistory and the traditional methods of making it have changed surprisingly little -from ancient times till now. The only new factors are that the simple methodologies have been rationalised and that science has verified the basic processes which take place during carbonisation and spelled out the quantitative and qualitative laws which govern the process.
Wood fuel surveys
1983
The publication is intended for persons confronted with the task of trying to deal with the growing fuelwood shortages which threaten so much of the developing world. It is designed to help develop the information needed in order to understand the reasons for a shortage and to identify and plan successful interventions that can improve the situation.
Fuelwood supplies in the developing countries
1983
Recent developments in the overall energy situation have not only highlighted the essential role played by fossil fuels in today's world, but have also led to a sudden awareness of the fact that the greater part of the population in Third World countries is not really concerned by the problem of sources of energy to which it has no access.
Wood for energy - Forestry topics report no. 1
1982
Fuelwood and charcoal are relatively cheap to produce, compared to fossil fuels, and are derived from a renewable source of energy which can be grown in most countries. Trees offer a range of ecological, agricultural, and social advantages which cannot be paralleled by any other energy source. It is not surprising that today many developed countries are reinvestigating the possibilities of mobilizing more of their forest biomass for energy.
Unasylva, no. 33 - Wood energy, special edition 2
1981
Of particular concern to developing countries is the need for taking urgent measures aimed at alleviating the acute domestic energy supply problem, particularly the fuelwood crisis, which is asuming alarming dimensions. One goal of the Nairobi Programme of Action is that during the present decade countries will undertake planned programmes with a view to ensuring that the energy needs of the rural areas can be met on a sustainable basis.
Unasylva, no. 131 - Wood energy, special edition 1
1981
This is the first of two special issues of Unasylva devoted exclusively to wood energy. As the magazine goes to press, this subject is also being prepared for examination at Nairobi, in August, by the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy. Four of the six articles in this issue are adapted from papers written for this meeting.
Unasylva, no. 118 - Wood for fuel
1977
For the poor in developing countries, both urban as well as rural, wood is usually the principal source of energy for cooking food and for keeping warm. In these countries an estimated 86 percent of all the wood consumed annually is used as fuel. As populations have grown, this dependence has led inexorably to pressures on the wood resource which all too often have resulted both in the destruction of the forest and in a worsening of the situation...