The purpose of this thesis is the determination of a minimum market price for Short-Rotation Forestry (SRF) willow biomass grown in monoculture and windbreaks in Quebec and Ontario. Full cost budgeting was used and developed on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Harvest cycles of 3 and 4 years for monoculture plantations, and 8 years for windbreaks were investigated. Estimates for establishment and other preharvest costs were obtained from mid-sized (5 hectares) commercial SRF willow plots in Quebec and Ontario. / For the monoculture plantations, irrespective of cycle length, and using the base case figures, the final delivery cost of willow biomass ranged between 74-126 $/odMg and 63--109 $/odMg based on current and projected costs respectively. These hold for yields between 7 and 11 odMg/ha/yr. Moreover, the 4-year cycle was revealed to be more economically efficient than a 3-year cycle. Along with yield, the main cost factors affecting the economics of SRF monoculture plantations are: harvesting, transportation to a processing plant, land lease management. For the two major energy markets, ethanol and electricity production (biomass in replacement of coal), SRF willow biomass in monoculture plantations does not appear to be a viable feedstock given present technology and yields. In the short run, a more promising outlet for willow biomass is space heat production for small buildings, farm complexes, etc. In this market, many potential buyers can afford to pay a higher price for biomass than ethanol or electricity utilities. / In the windbreak system, biomass could be produced for between 44 and 68 $/odMg, assuming that yields between 12 to 20 odMg/ha/yr can be achieved. At this price, windbreak biomass is not a competitive feedstock for ethanol or electricity generation, but is attractive for space heat production. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22733 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Girouard, Patrick |
| Contributors | Henning, John C. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Agricultural Economics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001462770, proquestno: MM05555, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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