University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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the creation, refinement, use and disposal of wood-based biomasses. These methods
and how they affect each other during life cycle will be discussed through the four
sustainability dimensions. Table 5 presents the opinions of the interviewees on the
environmental, social cultural and economic impacts of wood-based biomasses at
their different stages of life cycles.
Table 5. Environmental, social cultural and economic impacts of wood-based
biomasses.
From the environmental point of view wood-based biomasses are sustainable in the
sense that they are created from wood by-products. They pollute during usage but
emissions remain fairly low if the burning is pure. These kinds of biofuels are low in
energy, which means that wood-based biomasses are good in household usage, but
not in any large-scale use, such as industry or housing. What is left after the burning
process, are ashes, which can be returned to the ground as nutrition. When looking at
the life cycle of wood-based biomasses, they do not create a massive amount of
waste or emissions when they are used as a local source of energy. For a local
solution to create heat or electricity, this source of bioenergy would be excellent.
When wood-based biomasses are produced in massive amounts and forests are being
planted just to be cleared for mass production, the problems and emissions grow.
Intensive production is a problem, i.e., heavy machinery is used, which causes
emissions and loss of biodiversity. Toxic substances may be used to get rid of the
unwanted species of plants (loss of biodiversity), and irrigation is used to make the
raw material grow faster. This is when erosion, land sags and loss of nutrients will
appear.