Stemwood

·         Forst und Holz Allgäu-Oberschwaben is a joint project of communities, municipals, companies and planners to strengthen the network along the value chain. It also serves as an informative platform on a regional level.
The top goal is to spread the excitement for wood. Other main goals are:
Secure the usage of wood from local forests and provide wood produced by a sustainable forestry
Working together to promote wood usage in the Allgäu-Oberschwaben region
Increase the benefit by strengthening the regional chain of custody.

The personal contact and trust is the key to improve regional networks successfully.

Accomplishment of several projects along the chain of custody focusing on the regional added value.

The purpose of the project is to develop a new product by increasing private investment in research, development, innovation and strengthening the capacity of Pana WINDOWS d.o.o. for research, development and innovation through continuous collaboration with research institutions.

The project will procure equipment and services for conducting industrial research subject to effective collaboration and extensive knowledge dissemination and to hire professional staff.

Project contributes to the priority areas of the Smart Specialization Strategy of the Republic of Croatia for the period 2016-2020 in areas Food, Bioeconomy and Energy and Sustainable Environment. It is planned to be realized in cooperation with Euroinspekt-drvokontrola d.o.o. and implementation will help to achieve excellence in industrial research, development and innovation, commercialization of new products, revenue and export growth, which will have a positive impact on national economy.

PANA Ltd. was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary company from Međimurjeplet and continued a long tradition of one of the oldest wood processing plants, established in 1911 in Turopolje region. The company developed own production of parquet as a base activity. Adhering the roots of the wood industry, power and industrial sustainability PANA production is reflected in the industrial complex on 14 650 m², which applies modern technology and innovation. It employs 140 workers. In processing and production, the most commonly used wood is oak.

The excellence of the work and the competitiveness of the company PANA Ltd. have been recognized in the domestic and the international market. The dominant part of production, 90 percent, is related to foreign equity, while the responsibility for nature and the environment is confirmed by the prestigious FSC certification (the Forest Stewardship Council; The FSC), which guarantees the respect of high ecological, social and economic standards of forest management.

Wood waste, generated during the production process through a modern and ecologically set up boiler room, is used as a fuel for heating of the working space and 1500 m³ drying capacities. To maximize advantages of these precious raw materials, in 2015 we installed and put into operation a plant for the production of wood briquettes and a modern cogeneration plant for electricity production with a capacity of 1MW, by which we fully complete the biological cycle.

The strength grading of timber is mandatory for structural uses. Most of the sawmills in the area are small or medium-sized enterprises that cannot acquire an automatic classification line because of the very high costs. For this reason it was decided to develop a new portable machine, with significantly reduced costs, which could be shared between the sawmill of the territory. The new grading machine was design starting from the technology ViSCAN of Microtec With these results, it becomes possible to introduce the machine strength grading among small/medium sawmills. Thanks to this new opportunity the companies can enjoy advantages both in terms of quantitative yields and efficiency in the classification. On the other hand, the portability of the machine is an interesting stimulus to its possible spread: neighboring sawmill could share the purchase or lease the equipment, reducing the amount of initial investment and operating costs. This sharing mode is well suited also to a non-continuous production of lumber. The machine was then set on the timber species present in the FMMF territory already used or potentially suitable for construction: ViSCAN-portable was officially certified as strength grading machine on March 2014. At the same date the settings for Douglas fir and black pine were approved, while for fir and chestnut they were approved on October 2014. Some local sawmills have already used the machine to grade their sawnwood for structural uses, but the VISCAN-portable has also been requested by other Italian regions, especially to grade chestnut timber.

iBioNet (Intelligent Bioenergy Network) is a spin-off of the University of Florence, established in 2015.
iBioNet supports the local communities through the development of renewable energies and guarantees the environmental and social sustainability. Furthermore, iBioNet promotes wood-energy supply chains, assists the enterprises and the local communities. iBioNet supports the energy production togheter with the maintenance strategy into the local framework. iBioNet promotes the biomass energy to reduce the GHG emissions and as drive force for the rural economy and forest management.

iBioNet pays particular attention to the growth of a sustainable economic model, compatible with the economic and ethical development of local companies, thanks to the coherence between the core business of "renewable companies", based on principles of environmental sustainability and efficient use of resources.

iBioNet’s services are:
•       Planning and design of biomass supply chains, through specific analyses and the development of web applications that allow an assessment of the sustainability of the new energy plants.
•      Biofuel Certification Service and emissions analyses aimed at certifying the quality of solid fuels (wood chips). In particular, iBioNet issues quality certification of solid biomass samples, according to the UNI EN ISO standard.
• iBioNet also produces and installs SensorWebEnergy (SWE) and Air Quality (AIRQ) remote monitoring systems and able to determine: the first the quantity and quality of biomass supplied to the plants; the energy eventually produced; the overall performance of the plant, weighed against climatic and electricity consumption data; whereas the second, weather data and emission value data of CO2; CO; NO2; VOC; PM10; PM2.5 . SWE and AIRQ data are sent in real time to the web platform (www.ibionet.eu) to be processed and made immediately available to the users.

BASE has developed Cogen'Air, the first Thermovoltaic solar panel, capable of producing electricity and heat simultaneously. While a conventional solar panel converts only about 15 to 20% of the solar energy received into electricity, Cogen'Air produces 10% more electricity and 3 times more heat, for a total efficiency of more than 60%. This Thermovoltaic panel is therefore 4 times more efficient than a conventional solar panel. BASE designs and markets heat and electricity production solutions for agricultural drying activities and biomass drying activities. It also markets solutions for the energy efficiency of buildings: heating support, electricity and domestic hot water production. The main objectives are: - Provide innovative and cost-effective solar solutions to contribute to a sustainable society. - Guarantee a drying quality superior to that of open-air drying and allow the production of a fuel with constant characteristics specific to the needs of boilers. - Improve the value of wood by preserving the resource in particular. - Reduce stocks and the mass to be transported. - Achieve a higher PCI, reduce wood consumption, increase boiler life - Generate income from photovoltaic production. The dryers designed with Cogen'Air Thermovoltaic technology ensure a homogeneous and fast drying of the wood energy. The control system allows the dryer to operate optimally, based on numerous temperature and humidity sensors. These dryers make it possible to recycle wood waste and give it a second life. One of the BASE dryers is intended, for example, for the recovery and drying of crushed strains, dry chips that will then be marketed in supermarkets as firelighters. This product from the Cogen'Air drying process has a high PCI and is ideal for boilers. The electricity is resold and provides additional income to the operator.

The project aims to use new technologies to make the wood sales system economical and dynamic, and to fluidize information to increase wood mobilization and get forest owners involved in management.
Two tools have been developed:
- a computerized wood auction sale system coupled with an online sales platform: SYLVATRADE system
- a digital GIS data sharing platform for optimized management accessible to all stakeholders (owners, managers, buyers) called NEOSYLVAQ.

In the long term, the expert firm Coudert wishes to organise wood sales exclusively online.

The computer sales tool (SYLVATRADE tool) is a platform created from a database to generate standardized batch records and edit contracts. It is associated with the NEOSYLVAQ cartographic platform to give the buyer an overview of the lots, the location and outline of each lot on cartography, access and itineraries and finally facilitates the organization of lot visits.  
At the time of the sale the buyer has several information on the lot on his digital tablet: geographical situation, cadastre, surface, species,... A quasi immediate computer processing makes it possible to display the best offer and its amount to the whole room. The computerized management makes it possible to treat approximately 90 000 m3 of wood in 2 hours. Sales balances can be carried out by computer and quickly by species, volume class, and geographical unit.  The group sales can be followed either remotely on the Internet, or in a room on digital tablets. The results of the offers appear in real time and the contractual documents are published during the sale and are signed electronically at the exit of sale.

The project consists of creating a shared tool in the form of an online platform to facilitate the evaluation of supply plans and to limit conflicts of use from forest resources.
The tool integrates data related to the availability of the wood resource, taking into account harvests and past forest removals as well as the potential for additional wood energy and industrial wood harvesting. It thus provides an up-to-date view of the wood energy and wood industry resource at the departmental level.
In addition, the consumption of recent and planned biomass boiler is indicated in order to calculate the supply and demand balance for a territory.

Currently, the platform is tested and revised after feedback from users and experts associated with the project. It appears necessary to consolidate data on resource availability, biomass boiler consumption and other wood uses.

Data related to wood resources come from IGN inventories (National Institute for Geographic and Forestry Information), AGRESTE surveys (service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food) and ADEME studies (Environment and Energy Management Agency).
With a single tool, it is possible to :
- monitor harvests and wood consumption at the departmental level,
- estimate the additional resource,
- use indicators of the capacity to mobilize the resource.
The platform provides summary tables on resource availability and a boiler consumption database. It allows users to monitor the evolution over time of biomass boiler and wood resource consumption.  
It also provides related indicators to estimate the strain on the resource. Users can simulate the impact of a new boiler installation on their territory.
This type of tool appears necessary and useful both for public bodies for the implementation of their policy, and for industrialists who wish to develop their activities.

The European Life Forest CO2 project aims to promote carbon compensation projects in forests as a tool to mitigate the carbon footprint of companies or public authorities.
A company wishing to compensate its CO2 emissions can finance a project to improve carbon sequestration in the forest through 3 types of operation: planting in an area under agricultural decline, restoring a dying or damaged stand or improving an existing stand by thinning.
The CNPF connects forest owners who wish to carry out forest operation with companies wishing to finance forestry projects. CNPF calculates the accumulated carbon gain over a certain project period.

The owners are the only ones to bear the extra costs of forestry operations that improve atmospheric carbon sequestration and thus limit global warming.
To develop this new means of helping reforestation or afforestation, it is essential to make companies aware of the role of the forest.

The company subsidises part of the work, the rest being borne by the owner. In Nouvelle Aquitaine, as part of Life Forest CO2, a project was carried out in Dordogne on an area of 1 ha between a private forest owner and a public hospital establishment.
Europe gives grants to the CNPF for the work of establishing contacts and drafting carbon contracts in France.

Easily assess the sensitivity of forest soil to increased biomass harvesting. The owner or manager must enter soil characteristics into the digital or paper application, which indicates the sensitivity level for several mineral elements.

This tool allows more intensive forest management to be applied in areas where the risk of soil depletion is low. It is necessary to train forest owners to describe soil horizons.

This tool is complementary to the ADEME's guide "sustainable forest slash harvesting" of 2006 which indicates how to describe the soil (type of humus, soil texture, pH,...) and gives management recommendations according to the different types of sensitivity.
This application takes into account the pedoclimatic zone, humus type, pH, soil texture and prospective depth. The soil is described 25 cm deep. The result of the analysis gives 3 sensitivity levels: low, medium or high applied generally to the soil or for each mineral element (calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen).