r.1 - part

Foreword
Increasingly, biomass is being considered a major source of energy for development.
Until now, energy planners in developing countries have thought
of biofuels as suitable primarily for "traditional" uses, such as domestic cooking
and small-scale rural industries. But even remote regions have felt the
higher costs of 'conventional" fuels - either directly or indirectly - through the
higher prices commanded by cordwood and charcoal. These are the only biofuels
whose quality enables them to substitute readily for oil, kerosene, or coal
in many uses.
Rather than fight the trend to commercialization of biomass, planners in
such countries as the Philippines and Brazil are beginning to see their biofuels
as economically competitive new fuels that canl yield enough energy for vir­
tually any use. In the Philippines, irrigation pumps, electricity generators,
fishing boats, and ice machines are fueled with wood and charcoal. Other
countries are planning similar biomass-based energy programs. Experience
has taught that such programs need a framework as comprehensive as that required
for coal, peat, or any other fossil resource. The development of a complete
bioenergy economy requires the coordination of comparable national
policies and plans, project efforts, and research programs. Once such a
framework is established, informed decisions can be made about managing
the production of biomass materials that can be converted into useful forms of
energy. In many cases the preferred biomass will be woody.
The Agency for International Development (AID) has made the development
of indigenous energy resources, including biomass, a high priority for its
development assistance programs. AID provides t,2chnical assistance and information
to countries interested in systematic approaches to developing their
renewable energy resources. This handbook for identifying existing and
potential fuelwood crops is one example of such efforts to assist those involved
in the development of bioenergy systems. It is intended to complement
Firewood Crops: Shrub and Tree Species for Energy Production, published by the
National Academy of Sciences in 1980, by providing a tool useful in the field
and in the classroom throughout tropical regions.
This book was written under a contract funded by AID and administered by
the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
W. Paul Weatherly
Manager
Bioenergy Systems and Technology Project
Office of Energy
Agency for International Development
Washington, D.C.
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