Possibilities to Use Latvia Wood Resources for Heat Energy Production

The research aim is to determine the amount of heat energy possible to generate from wood in the main cuttings and improvement cuttings. The following methods have been applied for the research purpose: monographic, logically constructive, and graphic. The research authors basing on the methods developed by scientists from Germany, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, have calculated the amount of heat energy that Latvia would obtain if utilising timber cutting scraps and firewood, which remain unused in the main and improvement cuttings. The calculations allow concluding that the available firewood resources in 2009 in the main and improvement cuttings equalled to 1672.6 thousand m(3), available forestry scraps - 728.56 thousand m(3), tiny saplings - 376 thousand m(3), energy wood obtained from brushwood - 870 thousand m(3), energy wood from roots and stumps - 652.5 thousand m(3). The calculations allowed concluding that in 2009 it was possible to produce heat energy amounting to 6.0 million MWh using energy wood.