The report is entitled «Consumption of firewood and other solid biofuels in the Aysén region: accelerated adoption of pellets in the city of Coyhaique and predominance of firewood in the rest of the region«", and is available on the Observatory's website Forests, Energy and Society from INFOR.
The final energy consumption in the residential sector, considering urban and rural environments, of the Aysén region was 1,708 GWh/year, 80% of which came from firewood and 5% from pellets.
Firewood consumption was 565,456 m³/year (641% urban and 361% rural). In urban areas, 82% of households consume an average of 14 m³ of firewood per year, while 99% of households in rural areas consume firewood with an annual average of 21 m³/household.
Pellets are gaining ground.
In the municipality of Coyhaique, where 44% of the regional consumption of firewood is concentrated, the entry of pellets into the energy menu of families stands out, beginning to replace traditional firewood.
The Coyhaique Air Decontamination Plan is accelerating this process of energy transition and reduction of firewood consumption, although according to the authors of the report, it would be necessary to have a comprehensive energy efficiency plan that involves improving the thermal retrofitting program of homes and making the emissions standards for wood-burning heaters more demanding.
The authors They also point out that other towns like Puerto Aysén or Cochrane should have similar initiatives so that the whole region can advance at the same pace.
More information
This study is located in the number 14 from a series of regional publications that have been produced since 2015 within the framework of the monitoring of the consumption of firewood and other solid biofuels carried out by INFOR through the Forests, Energy and Society Observatory.
https://observatoriobes.infor.cl/