skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Space/age forestry: Implications of planting density and rotation age in SRIC management decisions

Conference ·
OSTI ID:140295

Short-rotation intensive-culture (SRIC) of promising tree crops is being evaluated worldwide for the production of methanol, ethanol, and electricity from renewable biomass resources. Planting density and rotation age are fundamental management decisions associated with SRIC energy plantations. Most studies of these variables have been conducted without the benefit of a unifying theory of the effects of growing space and rotation age on individual tree growth and stand level productivity. A modeling procedure based on field trials of Eucalyptus spp. is presented that evaluates the growth potential of a tree in the absence and presence of competition of neighboring trees in a stand. The results of this analysis are useful in clarifying economic implications of different growing space and rotation age decisions that tree plantation managers must make. The procedure is readily applicable to other species under consideration for SRIC plantations at any location.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
OSTI ID:
140295
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-200-5768-Vol.1; CONF-9308106-Vol.1; ON: DE93010050; TRN: 93:003926-0026
Resource Relation:
Conference: 1. biomass conference of the Americas: energy, environment, agriculture, and industry, Burlington, VT (United States), 30 Aug - 2 Sep 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]; Related Information: Is Part Of First Biomass Conference of the Americas: Energy, environment, agriculture, and industry; Proceedings, Volume 1; PB: 796 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English