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Domestic firewood supply from near urban land

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posted on 2023-05-27, 00:31 authored by Davies, Robert John
This study is an incremental, but important, component of a wider energy question facing Tasmania. In 1981 Tasmania had an unresolved energy problem in the context of future electricity supplies. Faced with rising prices for home heating Tasmanian homeowners were finding their own solution to escalating heating bills. They were turning to firewood to satisfy their domestic heating needs. This study provides information about the trends in firewood use in the domestic sector, and shows that the upward growth in demand for wood results from its price advantage over other heating fuels. Unlike the oil and electricity supply industries, the firewood industry is not well documented. By collecting information from a wide range of sources this study provides basic data about this industry. It examines the availability of firewood from near urban land within a 50 km radius of Hobart. It shows the importance of the private forest resource to wood supplies and that this resource is shrinking. It shows, for the first time, the involvement of farmers in the firewood business, and the opportunities for these land holders to make more money from their residue timber. The study also indicates that a growing number of people are turning to Crown Forest to collect firewood, and that they can obtain licences from the Forestry Commission for this purpose. A cautionary note is also raised in the text in relation to the long-term availability of firewood. This is because of the pressures on the resource from the Woodchip Industry, and the potential use of fuelwood by Industry as an energy source.

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Copyright 1982 the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (M.Env.St.)--University of Tasmania, 1982. Includes bibliographical references

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