Infodoc : Sciences, Techniques et Culture

The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of fuelwood consumption at coffee drying and processing plants (beneficios) in Costa Rica. A 60 per cent representative sample involving 100 such processing plants was used. All of the plants studied used between 0,07 and 0,08 cubic meters of stacked fuelwood for each 258 kg (1 fanega) of coffee beans processed. This represents a comsumption of more than 200 000 stacked cubic meters (st) of fuelwood to process the coffee of one year at current national production levels : 1290 terajoules per year, energy consumption. In order to satisfy this energy demand, 15,5 millions liters of diesel would be needed (taking into account the differencies in energy efficiency). This would represent an expenditure of 295 million colones (about [...]

The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of fuelwood consumption at coffee drying and processing plants (beneficios) in Costa Rica. A 60 per cent representative sample involving 100 such processing plants was used. All of the plants studied used between 0,07 and 0,08 cubic meters of stacked fuelwood for each 258 kg (1 fanega) of coffee beans processed. This represents a comsumption of more than 200 000 stacked cubic meters (st) of fuelwood to process the coffee of one year at current national production levels : 1290 terajoules per year, energy consumption. In order to satisfy this energy demand, 15,5 millions liters of diesel would be needed (taking into account the differencies in energy efficiency). This would represent an expenditure of 295 million colones (about U
5,6 millions). Increases in petroleum fuel prices have stimulated the consumption of the still cheaper fuelwood resource. Simultaneous increases in domestic and other
industrial uses of fuelwood have combined with coffee drying to pruduce a demand that is unlikely to be sustainable given Costa Rica's continuous forest reduction, which will result in wood supply problems. A principal solution suggested by the study is the establishment of fuelwood plantations that could provide a sustainable source of fuel for each "beneficio", reduce competition with the domestic sector and contribute in other ways to an efficient and integrated use a resources. "(Résumé des auteurs)".