Wood
In European countries such as France, the agricultural and forest biomass constitute the most promising energy arisings for the years to come. Resources are abundant and relatively well dispersed across the territory.
The mobilisable lingo-cellulosic biomass resource could provide 15% of the current amount of primary energy consumption (30 Mtoe/year). Covering 15 million hectares, the French forest, which already takes up 27% of the territory, continues to spread each year (between 30,000 and 80,000 hectares per year). The forest biomass represents approximately 90 million cubic metres of wood per year. However, according to estimates, between a third and a half of the yearly amount of forest biomass growth is not recovered at present.
Agroforestry waste and wood processing residues (shavings, bark, branches) are also resources that are easily accessible and inexpensive, and that could be used in different sectors. There are approximately 45 million tonnes of silviculture waste at present.