Japan’s eco-friendly trees to be used for biomass

Three months ago a strong earthquake hit Hokkaido in Japan. The Japan News reports that this meant a large numbers of trees had fallen by landslides, leading to an increase in the number of people using them for biomass.  

The fallen trees are to be used for renewable energy by turning them into fuel for stove heaters and biomass power generation. The Japan News say that this has been planned by the central government, Hokkaido government, local forestry cooperatives and paper-manufacturing companies. Paper and lumber is also to be made from the trees.

The trees are to be taken to the Hobetsu processing centre where logs made from fallen trees will be processed into lumber. Sawdust that is generated from that process is to be used and made into wood pellets at a nearby plant.

An official at the Hobetsu processing centre, Tatsuo Kobayashi said “Wood pellets have traditionally been produced from surplus lumber. Since we have a large number of fallen trees, I’m sure we will be able to increase their production. I hope they will attract more attention.”  

According to the Forestry Agency, in Japan around 210,000 tons of wood pellets were used as energy in 2016 which was up 34% from 2015.