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The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and problematize the relations between international forestry companies and wood energy in the context of climate change in Chile and Sweden.

Based on interviews, field observations and analysis of documents, case studies of international forestry companies and wood energy in local areas of Chile and Sweden are examined comparatively. A conceptual framework combining political ecology and environmental communication is developed to approach the cases.

The paper finds that the two international forestry companies studied here have widely incorporated the use of wood energy as a renewable and carbon neutral energy strategy for their forestry business. Second, the paper finds that wood energy is used as a way to reproduce forestry development in the two countries, which is contested by NGOs and activists which are today articulating critical approaches to forestry development in the two countries. Third, related to the former finding, the paper finds that the incorporation of wood energy into the forest sector’s interests in Chile and Sweden takes place in the context of important social-ecological conflicts related to industrial forestry development.

The paper’s analytical framework helps to analyse the social-ecological nature of international business and the way they organise material practices and communicative meaning around renewable energy. The paper’s findings and analysis shed light on important problematic aspects of the material and symbolic struggles around renewable energy in the context of climate change. The comparative dimension of the analysis has the value to offer a cross-border analysis to improve the understanding of some of the most important aspects of international businesses concerning wood energy today.

In the Baltic Sea area, wood fuels have been traded internationally on a relatively large‐scale since the 1990s, with trade flows primarily from the Baltic States to Sweden and Denmark. This has been driven by strong demand for renewable energy in Scandinavia, inexpensive wood resources in the Baltic States and relatively low costs of sea transport. The purpose of this paper is to clarify if this trade has contributed to integration between the wood fuel markets of Sweden and Estonia.

The authors use co‐integration analysis of quarterly price series data from 1998 to 2010, in order to determine whether there are interconnections between wood fuel prices in the two countries. As wood fuels generally are rather bulky, transport costs often have an important impact on price levels. For this reason the analysis is expanded to include estimated transport costs from Estonia to Sweden.

It is concluded that wood fuel prices in Sweden and Estonia are not co‐integrated, regardless of whether the transportation costs are taken into account or not. In other words, the wood fuel markets in the two countries cannot be considered integrated, which could be seen as a sign that international wood fuel markets still are far from fully developed.

There are some uncertainties about data quality and lack of information on market structure – in terms of, for example, fuel delivery contract specifications and shipping arrangements.

Lack of market integration implies a lack of market efficiency in the international wood fuel market.

Co‐integration analysis has been applied to many commodity markets, but there are only very few studies of international wood fuel markets.

Second-generation biofuel is regarded as a sustainable alternatives to fossil energy in transportation where electricity is not feasible. The main purpose of this study is to analyze how large-scale second-generation biofuel based on wood may affect the competitiveness of more mature bioenergy technologies such as bioheat through competition in the biomass market. The impacts on forest industries are also included.

An economic model for the energy and forest sectors based on partial equilibrium modeling is used to quantify the impacts of four different locations of biofuel production in Norway.

The results show that there are regional variations in biomass price effects depending on local raw material availability and costs of transport and import. Technologies allowing for a larger variety of wood biomass qualities will face lower biomass prices than technologies using only one species as raw material, causing less reduction in the production of bioheat and forest industrial products. For Norway specifically, the paper concludes that even if there is a potential for both increased bioheat generation and large-scale biofuel production, the production of second-generation biofuels based on domestic wood resources will cause a 5-20 percent reduction in bioheat generation depending on the scale of biofuel production.

This study demonstrates how impacts on biomass markets from establishment of biofuel production vary quite substantially with location, production level and choice of feedstock. One main finding is the quite large biomass cost impact that is seen in the model runs when introducing large-scale biofuel production. Increased biomass costs reduce the profitability and this must be taken into account when establishing a biofuel installation.

The originality of the paper is the analyses of biofuel impacts with a detailed model for biomass supply as the bioenergy and forest sectors.

The surface characteristics of wood such as surface roughness, surface free energy (SFE) and wettability are important properties influencing further manufacturing processes such as gluing and coating. The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of surface roughness of ten tropical woods on their SFE, wettability and bonding quality for water-based acrylic and solvent-based alkyd varnishes.

The woods tested in this study were fast-growing teak, afrika, sungkai, mindi, merbau, durian, lamtoro, pulai, acacia and kempas. Wood surfaces were prepared in unsanded and sanded using an abrasive paper of 120 grits. SFE values were calculated based on the Rabel method. Wettability values were measured based on the contact angle between varnish liquids and wood surfaces using the sessile drop method, and the S/G model was used to evaluate the wettability of the varnishes on the woods surface. The bonding quality of the varnishes was measured using a cross-cut test based on the ASTM 3359-02 standard.

The results show that unsanded kempas wood had the roughest surface with a Ra value of 16.24 µm, whereas sanded lamtoro wood has the smoothest surface with a Ra value of 6.86 µm. The unsanded afrika wood had the highest SFE value of 53.61 mJ/m², whereas sanded fast-growing teak had the lowest SFE value of 36.17 mJ/m². Sanded merbau woods had the lowest K value of 0.022 for the water-based acrylic varnish, whereas unsanded afrika wood had the highest K value of 9.253 for the alkyd varnish. Afrika wood with the highest K values (highest wettability) for both acrylic and alkyd varnishes produced the highest bonding quality (grade 4-5). Compared to the water-based acrylic varnish, the solvent-based alkyd varnish was more wettable and generated better bonding quality.

Improving the quality of fast-growing wood from plantation by painting could be considered to increase their use for higher value wood products.

Compared to water-based acrylic varnish, solvent-based alkyd varnish was more wettable and generated better bonding quality.

The originality of this research is to evaluate the values of surface free energy. SFE could be used to quantitatively determined the wettability of paints liquid in the surface of wood

Most energy planning exercises are carried out with aggregate data at the national level. At regional level namely village, block/district, there have been fewer efforts for energy planning. This paper aims to present a conceptual framework for analyzing energy consumption pattern at rural domestic sector. The entire framework is designed in such a way that user is provided with helpful tips and context-sensitive help options.

Decision support system (DSS) is developed with a graphical user interface (GUI) which helps to compute domestic energy consumption at a specific location. This user interface is fully menu-driven GUI in which different types of data are handled, maintained and displayed. Using this GUI, administrator can generate various reports regarding energy requirements from which decision maker can analyse the energy consumption pattern, per capita energy consumption (PCEC), adult equivalent, etc.

DSS assists in analyzing the energy sources and demand spatially. The technologies and methods used to develop and deploy DSS to aid in domestic energy consumption make work easier for a decision maker. GUI provides user an easy access of data analysis and the design and evaluation of domestic energy consumption strategies. DSS is validated with the data pertaining to energy situation of a block in central India. Stratified sampling survey, energy analysis covering 100 households from ten villages revealed that the average value of PCEC (in kWh/day) resource-wise ranges and activity wise for the surveyed block are as follows: fuel wood (0.60), dung cake (0.085), kerosene (0.18), liquefied petroleum gas (0.052) and electricity energy for lighting and appliances (0.353) and on the other hand it is observed that cooking PCEC is highest (0.505), followed by heating (0.24), lighting (0.162), cooling (0.162) and electrical appliances (0.108).

Energy analysis shows energy DSS will improve the quality of decision making at the block, district, and state level and enable the analysis and understanding of energy impacts of various decisions. Considering the Indian rural energy availability scenario, possible renewable energy solutions are also suggested to meet the current domestic energy requirements partially or fully.

This paper categorises environmental damage as local, national, transfrontier and international in nature. It argues that since the developed countries’ environmental protection policies aimed at reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be offset by the expansion of industrialisation in the less developed countries, the key to protecting the global environment is technological advancement by which the world community can raise the efficiency of the current energy usage and/or develop feasible alternative sources of energy so that the consumption of fossil fuel can be minimised. Furthermore, this paper argues that national institutions promote mainly R&D and technological changes in areas which will ensure national supremacy over other nations, in the areas of either trade and/or military and prestige rivalries and hence international treaties for protection of the global environment attempted thus far will continue to be incapable of significantly protecting the planet from global environmental damage, unless and until an authorised international institution for the global environment is established.

The surface characteristics of thermally and chemically modified wood, such as surface roughness, surface free energy (SFE) and wettability, are important properties that influence further manufacturing processes such as gluing and coating. The aim of this paper was to determine the influence of the surface roughness of thermally and chemically modified teak wood on their SFE, wettability and bonding quality for water-based acrylic and solvent-based alkyd varnishes. In addition, durability against subterranean termites in the field of these modified teak woods was also investigated to give a valuable information for their further application.

The woods tested in this study were fast-growing teak woods that were prepared in untreated and treated with furfuryl alcohol (FA), glycerol maleic anhydride (GMA) and thermal. SFE values were calculated using the Rabel method. The wettability values were measured based on the contact angle between varnish liquids and wood surfaces using the sessile drop method, and the Shi and Gardner model model was used to evaluate the wettability of the varnishes on the wood surface. The bonding quality of the varnishes was measured using a cross-cut test based on ASTM 3359-17 standard. In addition, durability against subterranean termites in the field of these modified teak woods was also investigated according to ASTM D 1758-06.

The results showed that furfurylated and GMA-thermal 220°C improved the durability of teak wood against termites. The furfurylated teak wood had the roughest surface with an arithmetic average roughness (Ra) value of 15.65 µm before aging and 27.11 µm after aging. The GMA-thermal 220°C treated teak wood was the smoothest surface with Ra value of 6.44 µm before aging and 13.75 µm after aging. Untreated teak wood had the highest SFE value of 46.90 and 57.37 mJ/m² before and after aging, respectively. The K values of untreated and treated teak wood increased owing to the aging treatment. The K values for the water-based acrylic varnish were lower than that of the solvent-based alkyd varnish. The untreated teak wood with the highest SFE produced the highest bonding quality (grades 4–5) for both acrylic and alkyd varnishes. The solvent-based alkyd varnish was more wettable and generated better bonding quality than the water-based acrylic varnish.

The originality of this research work is that it provides evaluation values of the durability and SFE. The SFE value can be used to quantitatively determine the wettability of paint liquids on the surface of wood and its varnish bonding quality.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a best innovation practices framework analyzing the innovation process in firms from the most innovative and the less innovative sectors.

This case study uses an intense review of literature in the field of innovation practices inside organizations. The field work is based in direct observation of innovation practices intended to identify and select those practices that lead to successful implementation of the innovation process in the participating firms.

The study recognizes the need of innovation as a tool for sustainable growth for firms. The article also describes the current process used by US government and organizations to measure innovation and presents a list of innovation best practices that have been recognized by each participating firm as key practices to develop innovation.

The framework allows a combination of practices from different industries however it has been studied in specific firms and a larger exploratory/explanatory process should be conducted to generalize the findings.

This paper offers practical insights about practices associated with the innovation process inside firms.

The study aims to develop a best innovation practices framework to be used by the less innovative sectors in order to become successful in the innovation development. These best innovation practices are identified from the most innovative sectors in the country.

With the massive use of fossil energy polluting the natural environment, clean energy has gradually become the focus of future energy development. The purpose of this article is to propose a new hybrid forecasting model to forecast the production and consumption of clean energy.

Firstly, the memory characteristics of the production and consumption of clean energy were analyzed by the rescaled range analysis (R/S) method. Secondly, the original series was decomposed into several components and residuals with different characteristics by the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) algorithm, and the residuals were predicted by the fractional derivative grey Bernoulli model [FDGBM (p, 1)]. The other components were predicted using artificial intelligence (AI) models (least square support vector regression [LSSVR] and artificial neural network [ANN]). Finally, the fitting values of each part were added to get the predicted value of the original series.

This study found that clean energy had memory characteristics. The hybrid models EEMD–FDGBM (p, 1)–LSSVR and EEMD–FDGBM (p, 1)–ANN were significantly higher than other models in the prediction of clean energy production and consumption.

Consider that clean energy has complex nonlinear and memory characteristics. In this paper, the EEMD method combined the FDGBM (P, 1) and AI models to establish hybrid models to predict the consumption and output of clean energy.

The aim of this research paper is to explain how principles of supply chain management (SCM) provide important conditions for the production, accessibility and use of energy, from the point of origin to the point of consumption.

The paper identifies three distinct trajectories in which the interplay between energy and SCM can release potential for research and practice.

Energy resources are vital to power industrial processes in manufacturing and logistics, while their use is also a major contributor to carbon emissions. The integrative nature of SCM provides conditions for improvement in use and accessibility of energy, and can facilitate the transition in which fossil fuels are replaced with a system of supply and conversion of renewable energy. These opportunities are highlighted by developing a set of three trajectories, which range from a true supply chain perspective on the energy sector, to an up‐stream and down‐stream perspective, respectively.

The impact of energy resources on carbon emissions makes them important units of analysis in further SCM research. Future research must acknowledge the variety in the nature of energy resources, and provide frameworks that are able to address the particular features of these.

Supply chain strategists must assess how energy use, efficiency, dependency and accessibility influence operations, both internally and externally in the supply chain. Logistics flows are powered by energy. As a considerable portion of carbon emissions created by supply chain operations is energy related, energy must be seen as a means towards achievement of environmental sustainability.

Understanding the relationship between energy and SCM will help managers to address environmental sustainability.

This is a timely topic of a cross‐disciplinary nature that has only been addressed to a limited extent by SCM so far. The topic is relevant to a large group of problem owners: supply chain strategists of companies where energy use, efficiency, dependency and security is an issue, and where operations processes have an impact on carbon emissions; for the energy sector, that needs to sustain a steady supply of energy, and increase accessibility to renewable energy sources that can replace fossil fuel; for policy makers, where energy dependency and security at a national level is an issue.