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Poland has considerable agro-biomass potential that could pave the way toward sustainable development and achieve the country's renewable energy targets by substituting the excessive use of fossil fuels, particularly coal and lignite. To develop biomass cost supply curves, biomass recourse assessment is required and socio-economic factors and environmental constraints must be considered. Surplus biomass potential is the proportion of biomass that can be used for energy generation and economic development with minimum risk. Two provinces were selected in this study to estimate forest and agricultural biomass resources. In central Poland, Kujawsko-Pomorskie province was selected due to the high density of renewable energy installations there, while Upper Silesia in the south of the country was selected because of its large coal deposits and higher forest cover. We used GIS applications, secondary data from official sources, and data from a field survey with 210 farmers to produce land use and GIS maps for surplus forest and agricultural biomass. Surplus residues from all crops in Upper Silesia and in Kujawsko-Pomorskie were estimated at 0.60 t/ha over a 12-month period. These figures correspond to approximately 57,000 and 178,000 t/year in both provinces, respectively. These maps are a useful tool in optimizing the locations of future investments in biomass-based power plants in the study regions.

In the past few decades, several studies have been conducted about the effects of stump harvesting on forests. Extensive stump harvesting began in Finland in 2000 for bioenergy purposes. Today, however, there are several ongoing discussions on producing energy from tree stump harvesting. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate people's knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes about stump harvesting by conducting a questionnaire survey during Silva fair in North Karelia in Finland. The results of the study indicated that 70% of the respondents showed quite good knowledge about stump harvesting. Respondents with high knowledge had critical perceptions and attitudes concerning stump harvesting. The study indicated that respondents supported stump harvesting only for forest management or site preparation, not for revenue. There were significant differences between forest owners and non-owners, between respondents with forestry backgrounds and non-forestry backgrounds, and between males and females regarding revenue. Respondents with high knowledge agreed that stump harvesting is good for forest management but not for biodiversity. Respondents had positive attitudes towards learning more about stump harvesting and using fuel from stumps. The study indicated that although people have some negative perceptions and attitudes towards stump harvesting, on the whole, they accept it as part of their future bioenergy sources. We deem that the results of our study will accelerate bioenergy policy makers’ interests.

The objective of this survey-based study was to investigate farmers’ willingness to supply biomass for power generation in the south and in the centre of Poland. In total, 210 farmers participated in this study by filling in a self-instructed questionnaire. The results indicate that the majority of farmers (two-thirds) in both regions appeared unwilling to collect, store and transport biomass to the market or to the energy production facility. It is likely that an unstable biomass market marked by low demand and low prices has led to unwillingness by farmers to engage in bioenergy production in Poland. Increasing the role of biomass as a renewable energy resource and recovering the farmers’ confidence in the market would require fixing the shortcomings in the biomass market and the provision of clear public policies that aim at long-term market stability.

The role of school teachers is crucial for promoting energy and environmental education in schools, and also instilling pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors among young students. However, studies are limited when it comes to analyzing teachers' perceptions and attitudes (PAs) related to the renewable energy technologies such as bioenergy from a cross-national perspective. The present study analyzed science teachers' PAs related to bioenergy based on data collected from schools in Finland and India. The sample size consisted of 50 science teachers from 10 high schools in these two countries. The study found that the majority of the science teachers had positive PAs regarding bioenergy in both of the countries. However, their willingness to pay more for using bioenergy did not appear to be very positive. In general, the positive PAs related to bioenergy among the science teachers should be encouraging for the educators and policy makers who are aiming to introduce renewable energy education in ...

India is experiencing energy crisis and a widening gap between energy supply and demand. The country is, however, endowed with considerable, commercially and technically available renewable resources, from which surplus agro-biomass is of great importance and a relatively untapped resource. In the policy making process, knowledge of existing biomass use, degree of social reliance, and degree of biomass availability for energy production is unequivocal and pre-conditional. Field observations, documentation, and fill-in sheet tools were used to investigate the potential of biomass resources and the existing domestic, commercial, and industrial uses of biomass in selected Indian states. To do so, a team of field observers/supervisors visited three Indian states namely: Maharashtra (MH), Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Tamil Nadu (TN). Two districts from each state were selected to collect data regarding the use of biomass and the extent of biomass availability for energy production. In total, 471 farmers were interviewed, and approximately 75 farmers with various land holdings have been interviewed in each district. The existing uses of biomass have been documented in this survey study and the results show that the majority of biomass is used as fodder for domestic livestock followed by in-site ploughing, leaving trivial surplus quantities for other productive uses. Biomass for cooking appeared to be insignificant due to the availability and access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders in the surveyed districts. Opportunities exist to utilize roadside-dumped biomass, in-site burnt biomass, and a share of biomass used for ploughing. The GIS-based maps show that biomass availability varies considerably across the Taluks of the surveyed districts, and is highly dependent on a number of enviromental and socio-cultural factors. Developing competitive bioenergy market and enhancing and promoting access to more LPG fuel connections seem an appropriate socio-economic and environmental approach to reduce the use of biomass for indoor cooking and increasing the share of surplus biomass for energy production.

The main objectives of this socio-technical study are to investigate the Indian farmers’ biomass production capacities and their perceptions and willingness to supply their surplus biomass to fuel an envisioned biomass-based power plant in three selected Indian states: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. For doing so, 471 farmers (about one-third from each state) have been interviewed in the field with info-sheet filled in by the field investigators. The farmers from all of the states appeared very much willing to sell their surplus biomass directly to a power plant. The farmers seem to depreciate the involvement of a middleman in the biomass procurement process. The farmers, however, appeared to highly appreciate a community-based association to regulate the biomass prices, with varying perceptions regarding government intervention. The majority of the farmers perceived the establishment of a biomass-based power plant in their region with positive economic outcomes. The farmers identified several barriers to supply biomass to a power plant where transportation logistics appeared to be the main barrier. The study recommends considering biomass collection, storage and transportation logistics as a fundamental segment of any envisioned investment in a biomass-based power plant. Biomass processing, such as pelletization or briquetting is recommended for efficient transportation of biomass at longer distances to reduce the transportation costs. The study further encourages the establishment of a farmers’ association aimed at collecting and selling biomass in agriculture areas predominant for small land holdings.

Utilization of renewable energy resources is imperative due to energy access, energy security, and energy sustainability coupled with the rising environmental concern. India is one of the largest land mass countries in the world and amply bestowed with biomass resources. Investigations on biomass supply potential, socio-economic challenges, local people attitudes, current bioenergy markets, and technologies are prerequisite while seeking to develop sustainable energy plants. The study aimed to assess expert attitudes on wood-based energy development in India. This assessment was based on the opinions of Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers who are involved in managing wood-based biomass resources in different parts of the country. The study gave emphasis to the advantages, problems, and directions of the biomass based energy development in the country. The results showed that the development of biomass-based energy plants involves a number of challenges both locally and nationally. In addition, the study also highlighted the possible benefits of developing biomass based energy plants at local and national levels. The outcomes of this study provide useful information to the policy decision makers, energy entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders in the development of biomass based energy in India.

International audience; In 2007, the European Union (EU) set goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, called H2020 targets, by 2020. Following the adoption and implementation of policies related to these targets, this study surveyed 187 experts from 25 EU countries to analyse their perceptions regarding the achievement of the H2020 targets. The experts' countries are grouped in five geographical regions: Central European countries (CEC), Western European countries (WEC), South-Eastern European countries (SEEC), Nordic countries (NC), and East European countries (EEC). The survey results demonstrate a broad scepticism among those interviewed: 49% perceive that the renewable energy (RE) target will not be accomplished, 60% perceive that the EU's GHG emission policies are not sufficient to fulfil the GHG reduction target, and 85% state that the EU's energy efficiency will not succeed. The regional comparison reveals that an overwhelming majority (82–93%) from SEEC, NC, and EEC feel that consistent and sufficient incentives are necessary to meet the RE targets for biomass. Contrary to the majority opinion among WEC experts, the majority from all other regions perceive that the EU GHG policies are insufficient and that the H2020 targets will not be achieved.

Understanding public knowledge, attitude, and perception towards energy and environmental issues is indispensible for achieving renewable energy targets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the level of knowledge and perception of renewables (especially biomass fuels) among rural households, and to analyze commonly held beliefs on environmental issues related to the development of bioenergy resources. A multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was applied in selecting 240 households from four upazilas of Bangladesh. Door to door questionnaire survey was carried out for this study. The results revealed that the majority of rural households had a high level of knowledge on traditional biomass fuels such as wood fuel, crop residues and cow dung. However, they possessed a relatively low level of knowledge regarding improved biomass fuels such as briquette, biogas and biodiesel. The analysis showed that the household’s socio-economic status and their level of education plays a significant role in the promotion of knowledge on various renewable and adoption on renewable energy technologies. The rural households expressed negative perceptions towards sustainability aspects of current biomass fuel consumption. Perceptions of various interventions which may have influence on promotion of knowledge on renewables and promotion of sustainable use of bioenergy resource were discussed. The results of this study provide noteworthy information on renewable energy dynamics, which is useful in the development of microplans for forestry and energy sectors at a regional or national level.

Development of energy systems, based on forest biomass, is a challenging issue in India. The study investigated perceptions of fifty-five Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers in relation to the potential benefits and challenges associated with the development of forest-based bioenergy (FBE) projects in India when they participated in two training programs in Finland during 2010. They generally agreed that development of FBE projects could have beneficial impacts on job creation, income generation, rural development, and restoring ecological degradation. They perceived lack of public acceptance and political support, impacts on biodiversity, and lack of technologies and infrastructure as the considerable challenges to the development of FBE projects in India. The study could provide some policy directions towards developing the FBE sector in India. It recommends conducting further studies to include a larger group of experts and other stakeholders to investigate the broader societal perceptions of FBE projects in India. In addition, the study also recommends building the capacity of the IFS officers so that they can play a key role from the government side for developing the FBE sector in the country.

A country level spatially explicit mixed integer linear programming model has been applied to identify the optimal Fischer Tropsch biodiesel production plants locations in Finland. The optimal plant locations with least cost options are identified by minimizing the complete costs of the supply chain with respect to feedstock supply (energywood, pulpwood, sawmill residuals, wood imports), industrial competition (pulp mill, sawmill, combined heat and power plants, pellet industries) and energy demand (biodiesel, heat, biofuel import). Model results show that five biodiesel production plants of 390 MW feedstock are needed to be built to meet the 2020 renewable energy target in transport (25.2 PJ). Given current market conditions, the Fischer Tropsch biodiesel can be produced at a cost around 18 €/GJ including by-products income. Furthermore, the parameter sensitivity analysis shows that the production plant parameters such as investment costs and conversion efficiency are found to have profound influence on the biodiesel cost, and then followed by feedstock cost and plant size. In addition, the variations in feedstock costs and industrial competition determine the proportion of feedstock resource allocation to the production plants. The results of this study could help decision makers to strategically locate the FT-biodiesel production plants in Finland.

Successful energy planning requires substituting the standard economic model with a more transparent public participatory model because people play a fundamental role in climate change mitigation and renewable energy (RE) deployment. This approach requires improving communication with society and enabling smooth delivery of easy to digest information to citizens in both formal and informal educational settings. In this context, education and teachers, as the principal components, are recognized as one mechanism. We conducted a survey-based study, collecting 260 questionnaires from secondary school teachers in Jordan aiming to investigate their knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward RE development. The main findings of this study revealed that teachers have limited knowledge of RE and neutral perceptions regarding its use. However, teachers showed clear positive attitudes toward RE development. Overall, male teachers exhibited slightly higher knowledge of RE and female teachers held stronger positive attitudes. A number of socio-demographic and work related factors did not influence the teachers' knowledge and attitudes toward RE. It was also found that teachers require personal training regarding RE before it is introduced into school curricula.

Elevating public knowledge and awareness is positively correlated to public support to renewable energy (RE) development and elicit support to achieve measures to reduce energy consumption at the domestic level. Since information about particular issue might be obtained from various sources and according to students’ preferences, therefore, the main objective of this study is to explore the role of social interactions, mass media, and school profile on youth knowledge and awareness. In this vein, we conducted a survey-based study during which we collected 617 responses from 16-year old school students from two contrasting geographical regions in Jordan. The study found noteworthy differences in responses between gender, place of residence, and school type variables. Interestingly, parents scored the highest mean value and thus perceived as the most important source of information for the students. A Principle Component Analysis revealed three dimensions with statistical differences among the study variables. The internet is found to be a preferable source to obtain information in future and for all the respondents. However, females and private-mixed schools seem to also prefer TV and school activities to obtain information in future while males preferred school teachers and parents. The policy implications of this study imply devising proper outreach and energy saving campaigns targeting parents through mass media and community-based initiative. The education authorities are encouraged to develop and implement energy saving campaign at the public schools and finding room for introducing RE related issues within the domain of school curricula and school activities.

WOS: 000319106300002, Development of modern bioenergy sector is an important step toward meeting societal demand for reducing CO2 emissions and supplying eco-friendly energy. Young students are the future decision-makers and they will play an important role toward transforming the present fossil fuel driven society into a renewable energy based society. The study aimed to explain young students' intentions to use bioenergy by considering their knowledge perceptions, and attitudes related to bioenergy in Finland, Taiwan, Turkey, and Slovakia. Data for this study came from a previous survey in these countries among 15-year-old 1903 school students. This study with the help of Principal Component Analysis revealed the dimensions of the students' perceptions of and attitudes related to bioenergy. One of the dimensions pro-environmental intention was used as the dependent variable in the Multiple Regression Analyses. Results indicated that students' intentions to use bioenergy were mostly guided by their perceptions of the socio-environmental aspects related to bioenergy. Individual level decision-making such as communicating and learning more about bioenergy was also important; however, with a low impact value. Results also suggested that the criticalenvironmental dimension had only minor influence on the students' intentions to use bioenergy. Students' level of bioenergy-knowledge especially those with a relatively higher level appeared to have a strong impact on their intentions to use bioenergy. Young students should be facilitated to become aware of bioenergy in order to influence their intentions to use it in the future., OKKA-saatio Foundation (Helsinki, Finland), The Authors are thankful to the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, which helped to improve the manuscript. In addition, the authors acknowledge all the survey respondents, the schools and the municipal authorities in each country for their cooperation. Finally, yet importantly, the authors acknowledge the generous funding support by the OKKA-saatio Foundation (Helsinki, Finland).

The aim of this survey study is to investigate the level of awareness and prevailing attitudes of schoolstudents toward renewable energy (RE) in a country which is heavily reliant on fossil fuels despite having high RE resources. The importance of this study stems from the need to better understand the role of education in cultivating awareness of RE, which is necessary for the students to become future responsible energy consumers. To that end, we developed a suitable questionnaire. In total, 617 respondents from both rural and urban areas filled in the questionnaire. Our results indicate that students have limited ability to distinguish renewable from non-renewable energy sources despite many respondents being aquatinted with the common RE sources like solar and wind. Furthermore, over 50% of students are unaware of biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol. Nevertheless, 87% of students consider RE to be a viable future energy option, and generally exhibit a positive attitude and willingness to adopt RE even at high prices. Overall, young females appear to be more acquainted with RE than young males. Likewise, students studying in urban areas are more aware of RE and more strongly support their adoption, in comparison to rural students, who show a preference for nuclear energy. This study highlights the importance of implementing RE education as early as possible to encourage RE development, which is necessary to alleviate the risk from fossil fuel-related environmental problems.

The use of wood in building construction in China dates back millennia. In recent decades with rapid industrialization and shortage of timber, the use of wood as a building material has substantially decreased. Since 2000, though, a certain revival of wooden houses has occurred, especially in the most developed cities. Nevertheless, both the number of wooden houses and the awareness of the potential of using wood in housing remain low. The present study aimed at better understanding the perceptions of Chinese experts on wooden house. The study analyzed the needs and the potential for the construction of wooden houses in China, training and education capacity and requirements, and the implications for sustainable forest management. The semi-structured questionnaire method was chosen to explore the experts’ views on specific issues and more general aspects. The experts perceived a low level of public awareness on the use or purchasing of wooden houses. This and other results and their implications are discussed in consideration of the ambitious national policies, including the pursuit of a low-carbon economy. Knowledge and information dissemination, education dealing with forest resources, wooden construction know-how, and the properties and benefits of wooden housing need to be promoted at different levels to improve the acceptance of wood framed houses in China.

The present study examines Chinese university students’ attitudes and knowledge regarding energy, specifically towards forest bio-energy in their country. The study was based on opinions of students from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in China and it was conducted using a questionnaire completed by 441 students. The students’ attitudes are seen as highly relevant because they are considered as both potential consumers and possible experts in the field of bio-energy. Their activities influence how the future energy markets will likely develop. The results revealed various interesting facets of the students’ views regarding energy usage. Of particular interest is the students’ positive attitude towards renewable energy in general, but slightly less positive towards forest bio-energy. However, the respondents expected to receive more information and knowledge about renewable energy and forest bio-energy. Moreover, it can be concluded that the dissemination of knowledge through different sources (e.g. teaching in school, information available on the Internet and other media channels) is an increasingly important aspect regarding energy issues. The results of this study can provide information of the perceptions of young educated people on energy policy issues and thus serve political decision-making processes for the future options concerning the development of forest bio-energy in China. Finally, the outcome of this study indicates that further environmental and energy education in China is urgently needed.

Finland considers energy production from woody biomass as an efficient energy planning strategy to increase the domestic renewable energy production in order to substitute fossil fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, a number of developmental activities are implemented in the country, and one of them is the installation of second generation liquid biofuel demonstration plants. In this study, two gasification-based biomass conversion technologies, methanol and combined heat and power (CHP) production, are assessed for commercialization. Spatial information on forest resources, sawmill residues, existing biomass-based industries, energy demand regions, possible plant locations, and a transport network of Eastern Finland is fed into a geographically explicit Mixed Integer Programming model to minimize the costs of the entire supply chain which includes the biomass supply, biomass and biofuel transportation, biomass conversion, energy distribution, and emissions. The model generates a solution by determining the optimal number, locations, and technology mix of bioenergy production plants. Scenarios were created with a focus on biomass and energy demand, plant characteristics, and cost variations. The model results state that the biomass supply and high energy demand are found to have a profound influence on the potential bioenergy production plant locations. The results show that methanol can be produced in Eastern Finland under current market conditions at an average cost of 0.22 €/l with heat sales (0.34 €/l without heat sales). The introduction of energy policy tools, like cost for carbon, showed a significant influence on the choice of technology and CO2 emission reductions. The results revealed that the methanol technology was preferred over the CHP technology at higher carbon dioxide cost (>145 €/tCO2). The results indicate that two methanol plants (360 MWbiomass) are needed to be built to meet the transport fuel demand of Eastern Finland.

The present study with an international perspective, investigated the state of knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes among young students toward bioenergy in Finland, Slovakia, Taiwan, and Turkey. A total of 1,903 students with an average age of 15 years from 19 rural and urban schools participated in this study. The study found statistically significant differences in students’ bioenergy knowledge with respect to the countries. Only a small percentage of the students in each country were able to demonstrate a high level of bioenergy knowledge. In overall, the gender and rural–urban differences did not play a significant role in determining students’ level of bioenergy knowledge. The students appeared to be very critical of bioenergy and especially of the issues related to bioenergy production from forests. They demonstrated positive attitudes in terms of their willingness to learn about bioenergy and its use in their daily life. The study found statistically significant effects of gender and locality on students’ perceptions of bioenergy. Most knowledgeable students in bioenergy appeared to be most critical in their perceptions and attitudes toward bioenergy. The principal component analysis revealed three distinct dimensions of students’ perceptions and attitudes toward bioenergy viz., “motivation”, “critical”, and “practical”. A broader societal support is needed for the introduction of bioenergy in many countries and young generation’s positive attitudes to this matter is certainly important for people who will create policies in this area. More efforts are needed to support young students so that they understand the multi-dimensional issues related to bioenergy by allowing them to have practical experiences with bioenergy.

The study investigated the relationships between students’ perceived information on bio-energy from school, home and media and their perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge regarding bio-energy. The study also analyzed the scope of future policies to raise awareness among young students about bio-energy. Data drawn from 495 Finnish students studying in ninth grade revealed that the students were more positive in their attitudes towards bio-energy compared to their perceptions of it. They were very positive about learning about bio-energy, while not so eager towards its utilization. It appeared that school, home, and media all had statistically significant effects on students’ perceptions, attitudes, and level of knowledge related to bio-energy. Three principal components emerged from students’ perceptions and attitudes towards bio-energy viz. ‘motivation’ revealing students’ eagerness to know more about bio-energy; ‘considering sustainability’ revealing their criticality of forest bio-energy; and ‘utilization’ revealing their state of interests to use bio-energy. Bio-energy policies to be effective must consider the role of school, home, and media as important means to engage young students in bio-energy related discussions. It is also desirable to establish interactions between energy and educational policies to integrate the modern renewable energy concepts in the school curriculum.

The aim of this study is to discuss how information about the development and use of bio-energy is forwarded and disseminated to general public via the Internet in China. Furthermore, this study also explores in what manner the information of renewable energy policies is presented. A research method used in this study is an application of content analysis. Altogether 19 energy-related web platforms were found by searching keywords, such as “energy net” or “renewable energy net” or “bio-energy net” on www.Google.cn . A thorough analysis was conducted by focusing on one of them: www.china5e.com . The news articles on www.china5e.com were examined according to whether the use of bio-energy was articulated positively or negatively in the contents of articles. It was also considered whether the articles were imported from abroad. The results of this study indicated that in China there is a tendency on the Internet to disseminate primarily the positive information about bio-energy with a great emphasis on its benefits. In addition, the study shows that when analyzing the content of the news articles, biogas and liquid bio-fuels will be the main bio-energy development trends in China in the near future.

Since 1995 the development of forest research and education has been defined more and more in the European context instead of solely on Finland basis. According to the Bologna Process in 1999, Finland committed to the joint actions to develop high forestry education through wide networking as other European countries. National Forest Programme (NTF) in 1999 by the Finnish Government aims at improving forest‐related know‐how through a strong innovation based on research, education and expansion of internationalisation and Europeanisation. However, research and development funding for forest sector decreased remarkably from 1995. Following NTF, research of many institutes including Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) becomes more and more customer‐oriented, that is “from the markets to the forest”. There are two forest education institutes, i.e., Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki and Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu. The former works for the sustainable function of ...

Teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy, and their motivation to teach such a topic, can largely determine the success of implementing bioenergy related education in schools. The study aimed to explore science teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy in India. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 28 science teachers from four urban schools in India. Results indicated that the science teachers were fairly knowledgeable regarding bioenergy and they also demonstrated positive perceptions of bioenergy. In addition, they were positive towards the prospect of receiving more information to increase their own knowledge of bioenergy. However, the science teachers appeared to have some misconceptions regarding the issue of CO2 emission from using bioenergy. It also emerged that although the existing Science syllabus for Grade X in Indian schools includes a topic on bioenergy, the majority of the science teachers were not aware of it. Policy makers and educators are recommended to provide science teachers more support to improve their capacity for teaching energy and environmental topics in schools in India. In addition, an improvement of the current learning and teaching environment in Indian schools could help teachers to deliver energy and environmental education more effectively to their students.