The U.S. forest products industry accounts for 7 percent of national manufacturing output, and wood products account for nearly half of all industrial raw materials manufactured in the United States. Industry sources put annual sales at approximately $230 billion and employment at 1.6 million people in 46 States. Major forest product industry end-use markets include new construction (especially residences), remodeling and repair, publishing and office products, and converted paper and paperboard.
The industry is the third-largest industrial consumer of electricity, and self-generates much of it from wood waste byproducts for use in drying, kiln operations, and production of steam and electricity. The paper and allied products subgroup self-generates a higher share of its electricity consumption than any other industrial group (see figure). A View of the Forest Products Industry From a Wood Energy Perspective, new from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), profiles this important renewable energy market.
Energy use in the forest products industry is strongly influenced by environmental and technological factors. For many years, environmental policies have shaped the management and use of timberland as well as the industry's manufacturing operations. New technologies have enabled measurement and recording of critical environmental parameters and have created the means to assess and control toxins and byproducts released into the air, water, and solid-waste stream. New and prospective technologies present a mixed energy picture; some save energy while others, such as closed-cycle processing, require more.
Expansion of renewable biomass electricity generation faces some potential obstacles, including fears in some sectors of the industry that higher demand would drive up prices for limited timber resources, and the logistical challenge of locating generating plants simultaneously near fuel supplies and electricity transmission lines.
The article, initially accessible only online, is one of a collection on renewable energy that will be published later this year in EIA's Renewable Energy Annual 1998: Issues and Trends.
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