• Spain is the third country in Europe with the largest forest area and the ninth in the use of its resources.
• The Spanish Association of Stove, Kitchen and Fireplace Manufacturers (AEFECC) highlights the importance of good sustainable management of forests in order to prevent fires.
Compared to recent years, Spain is not suffering major forest fires. However, according to forest fire statistics in Spain, an average of 17.000 forest fires occur, affecting around 114.000ha of forest area.
Of them, according to the records of the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies: an annual average of 80 forest fires have consequences on the population, mainly due to preventive evacuations, but we must also regret deaths, injuries, and cuts to communication routes. and services, damaged infrastructure.
Through the extraction of excess biomass, in addition to balancing the ecosystem, fires can be avoided by using said material as a source of clean, sustainable and low-cost energy. The potential of this forest mass as a source of thermal energy is very high and is the best alternative to fossil fuels.
The cleaning of forests and the reuse of forest surplus are part of the secret of the countries with the largest forest area in our environment so that large fires are not as devastating as they are in our country, where 41% of the burned area corresponds to only 0,2% of claims.
The World Environment Forum (WWF) assures that the time to put out a fire is 20 years before, through the restoration, preparation and care of forests.
THE THIRD EUROPEAN COUNTRY WITH THE MOST FORESTS
Spain is the third country with the largest forest area in Europe, but the ninth in use of these resources. It only takes advantage of a third of the remaining forest mass. The rest, 63% of this surplus, remains in the forests, exposed, in most cases, to fires.
We are precisely one of the countries with the highest rate of fires in the European Union, with summer being the time of highest incidence.
Although some of them originate naturally, caused by lightning, about 80% of fires, according to Greenpeace, are caused by humans.
Agricultural burning, to obtain grass, smokers, machines and engines, bonfires, acts of vandalism, among others, are some of the reasons why fire devastates thousands of hectares in our country every year.
“Reducing the amount of biomass accumulated in forest areas by collecting firewood or branches would favor the regulation and functioning of the ecosystem, preventing the uncontrolled spread of fires, since there is less material susceptible to burning,” says Carlos Oliván, president of AEFECC.
USE TO SAVE ENERGY
AEFECC estimates that increasing the percentage of single-family homes with biomass heating systems by only 18% (almost 1,4 million homes) would mean not only savings of almost 500 million euros annually and great progress towards achieving environmental objectives for greenhouse gas emissions but rather a reduction in energy dependence.
The use of biomass as a heating system contributes to reducing pollution, since the emissions generated by its combustion are offset by the absorption of CO2 during its life cycle.
On the other hand, firewood, compared to any other fuel, does not require industrial transformation processes, so its ecological footprint is completely clean.
Furthermore, biomass generates 135 jobs per 10.000 inhabitants in rural environments and contributes to the cleaning of forests and the maintenance of the forest area of our country.
AEFECC is an ally of EXPOBIOMASA
Further information: www.aefecc.es