Above: Employees of Ecoprojeto Ltda. at loading the truck. Below: Harvested wood. Source: Projekt Ökovest GmbH
That means no more timber is felled than the volume that can grow back within a corresponding period of time. This ensures a secure supply of wood for construction and fuel over an area of 200 hectares.
Ecoprojeto employees harvest, store and process the timber in Soledade, which is located in the same region as the company seat of Chapada, Rio Grande do Sul. Transport routes from there to the final destinations are short. That also saves fuel for transport and cuts greenhouse gas emissions.
In Chapada, the grain silos of Groupo 7 feature drying systems with modern burner technology that uses dry wood. Groupo 7 is a group of farmers from the region who cooperate with each other. The silo system ensures residue-free, CO2-neutral burning without waste disposal problems. That represents another contribution to the substitution of fossil fuels.
The timber volume of a fully-grown tree traps approx. 900 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere. Compared to heat generation with heating oil that emits 0.329 kg of CO2 per kWh of heat, biomass only generates 0.01 kg of CO2 (GEMIS - Global Emission Model Integrated Systems). The heating value of one cubic meter of eucalyptus (after drying, with a water content of under 20 %) is around 2,100 kWh, or the equivalent of 210 l of heating oil.
"As investors, we've been turning to so-called illiquid investments for many years. That shields us in the long term from high market volatility," says Managing Director Heike Kröger, explaining the longstanding commitment of Projekt Ökovest GmbH to wind energy and reforestation in Brazil.
http://www.iinas.org/gemis-de.html
