Continuity, change, and geographical differences in Spain’s firewood consumption: a new estimation (1860-2010)

Abstract

Although firewood was the main energy source until recently in most parts of the world, our understanding of its consumption levels is still quite limited, even in regard to recent periods. The powerful impact of fossil energy carriers and their major effects on global ecology, economy and society have led us to underestimate the role firewood has continued to play during the energy transition. This article offers a new reconstruction of long-term firewood consumption in Spain, taking into consideration variables related to supply and demand, which are then used to reconstruct the production, appropriation and energy uses of firewood biomass. This new series distinguishes also between the origins (forest or crop firewood), and between different regional behaviors. The main findings indicate that total and per-inhabitant consumption has been greater than traditionally assumed; that there was major regional divergence, with consumption varying significantly from one area to another; that the decline in firewood consumption was gradual and later than previously thought; and that it increased or declined over time in a non-linear fashion. Moreover, the traditionally neglected estimation of the role of woody crops was found to be very significant in this process, as it represented between 20% and 70% of total consumption for the whole data series.

Firewood consumption and energy transition: a survey of sources, methods and explanations in Europe and North America

“…The most recent Spanish series, higher than previous estimates, begins at 3.1 kg/person/day in 1860, declining slowly to 2 kg/person/day by the 1910s and marginally less by 1950, before reaching 1 kg/person per day around 1960. Portuguese figures are in a similar range (Infante & Iriarte, 2019;Henriques, 2011). Urban Sweden, where wood stoves were used, also used a similar amount in the 1910s (almost certainly rather more efficiently than rural counterparts): 0.9 m 3 per year or c. 1.6 kg/person/day.…”

“…To this is added firewood coming from woody plants growing in farms outside of the forests (vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees). Such supply-side estimates have been combined with demand-side to estimate woodfuel use as a residual when other uses can be quantified, and taking into the account the distribution of population that did not have affordable access to alternative fuels (Infante & Iriarte, 2019).…”

“…Similarly, and unsurprisingly, wood consumption was much higher in the more forested southern regions of Germany than the north, where peat and turf was available as a substitute fuel. Modelling suggests very varied access to woodfuel in Spain associated with variations in woodland cover but also cultivation of woody crops (Infante & Iriarte, 2019).…”

“…It is clear that consumption varied geographically within countries and between income groups. National averages, or share of wood use in total energy consumption, thus only present us with a limited understanding of the local importance and experience of fuel use (see Serrano-Medrano, Ghilardi & Masera, 2019;Infante & Iriarte, 2019). Equally, local case studies cannot be considered to be representative of a national picture.…”

Have Historical Land Use/Land Cover Changes Triggered a Fire Regime Shift in Central Spain?

“…In particular, urban sprawl in the most densely populated areas is creating the most challenging territories at risk, namely wildland-urban interfaces [45][46][47]. A third main general trend is energy transition, consisting in the substitution of biomass fuel (i.e., firewood, charcoal) by fossil fuel, in connection with the industrialization process that implied rural exodus to urban areas [48][49][50][51]. This phenomenon has led to the abandonment and quick regeneration of broad woodland areas in many Mediterranean regions during the second half of the 20th century, with obvious implications for the fire regime.…”