Abstract:Purpose: The rise in wood fuel consumption and charcoal has been associated with increased deforestation in Ghana. Plantation developments from teak (Tectona grandis), bamboo (Bambusa balcooa) and Acacia auriculiformis are promoted to produce sustainable biomass for charcoal production. While all species have comparable charcoal quality, there is limited available data to elucidate the environmental impacts associated with their plantation development and use as biomass sources for producing charcoal. This study therefore quantified and compared the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts of producing charcoal from T. grandis, A. auriculiformis and B. balcooa.Methods: The study was conducted in accordance with the ISO procedural framework for performing LCAs in the ISO 14040/14044. For this study, the functional unit chosen was 1 MJ energy charcoal produced from three species: T. grandis, A. auriculiformis and B. balcooa. Data on B. balcooa plantation was collected from a B. balcooa-based intercropping system established by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan in the Sekyere Central District of Ghana. Input data for A. auriculiformis and T. grandis were based on plantations established by the Forestry Commission of Ghana within the forest agroecological zone of Ghana. All input data were from primary local data. Calculations for pollutant emissions were made with Simapro version 8 applying life cycle inventory (LCI) databases of Ecoinvent V3 and Idemat 2015 (a database of the Delft University of Technology) to analyse the contribution of all the flow processes to the emissions. The emissions were expressed as eco-costs and used as an indicator for impact assessment.Results and discussion: The results showed that relative to B. balcooa, the total eco- Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporationcost (comprising eco-cost of human health, ecosystems, resource depletion and global warming) of a cradle-to-gate production of 1 MJ energy charcoal will be 140% higher with T. grandis and 113% higher with A. auriculiformis. The increased environmental impacts associated with T. grandis and A. auriculiformis occurred at their biomass production stage (involving nursery and plantation establishment) which constituted about 85% of the total eco-cost due to the use of relatively large quantities of pesticides, weedicides and fertilizers with high acidification, ozone depletion and global warming potentials.Conclusions: B. balcooa plantations may be the most environmentally viable option based on the results. Where T. grandis or A. auriculiformis is a priority, improvement options will be key in reducing environmental costs at the biomass production stage for improved environmental sustainability. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Results and discussion: The res...
Purpose This study aims to examine the market structure and the factors influencing the price of fuelwood in the Dormaa Municipal in the Bono region of Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A total of 200 fuelwood harvesters, 20 wholesalers and 20 retailers were sampled by using probability and non-probability sampling methods. Gini coefficient was used to analyse the market structure, whereas quantile regression was used to analyse the factors influencing the pricing of fuelwood. Findings The study results indicated that the fuelwood harvesters’ market is less concentrated, with a Gini coefficient of 0.22, likewise the fuelwood intermediaries’ market, with Gini coefficients of 0.22 and 0.32 for wholesalers and retailers, respectively. The price of fuelwood decreased when sold through the retailer and wholesaler outlets, but the price increased when sold via the end-user outlet. Less smoky fuelwood species attracted higher prices, whereas easy-to-light fuelwood species were sold at lower prices. Furthermore, fuelwood from Perpewa (Celtis zenkeri) and Acacia (Senna siamea) species received the highest prices in the market. It is recommended that fuelwood harvesters establish woodlots with acacia (Senna siamea), especially and Perpewa (Celtis zenkeri), both of which emit less smoke and have high calorific value with fast rotation period. This will ensure fuelwood availability and offer better prices to the harvesters, as such species command high prices in the market. Originality/value There is paucity or near unavailability of literature on the market structure and the influence of the hedonic attributes on different quartile prices of fuelwood; the result of this study provides the foundational springboard for future studies on fuelwood marketing.
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