Determining the priorities in utilization of forest residues as biomass: an A'wot analysis

The gap between global energy production and consumption is increasing at a fast pace along with population growth, industrialization, and technological developments, resulting in a rapid increase in the need for energy. This has led countries to use their own resources more effectively. Consequently, in addition to existing energy sources, alternative solutions are now being sought for this problem via renewable resources such as biomass energy production. As forest resources are abundantly available in Turkey, forest residues constitute a significant biomass potential. This study aimed to identify key strategic factors in the evaluation of forest residues as biomass using A'WOT analysis. Measurement of the factors in SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, and their ranking, was enabled by quantification via A'WOT analysis, which is a combination of SWOT analysis and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A survey was conducted among relevant experts in Turkey to determine SWOT factors and AHP weights. As a result, eight sub-factors for strengths and threats, seven sub-factors for opportunities, and four sub-factors for weaknesses were determined for analysis. Each SWOT parameter was then quantified by considering the viewpoints of the surveyed experts, and the resulting matrix was used to determine the vector weights and priorities of the groups and factors. The results indicated that if forest residues could be utilized as an alternative energy source, this would more than fill the gap between the production and consumption of energy in the country. In the evaluation of forest residues in Turkey, transportation costs emerged as the weakest factor, while the removal of natural sources of nutrition and fertilizer from the forest cover was seen as the greatest threat. The most important opportunity was perceived to be the improvement of forest management along with energy and climate-change policies and activities. (c) 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.