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Regional socio-economic impacts of decentralised bioeconomy: a case of Suutela wooden village, Finland

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Abstract

The regional bioeconomy has a high importance for generating socio-economic impacts, especially in sparsely populated resource peripheries. The benefits include increased employment and income and improved security of supply. In this study, the modified regional input–output model is applied for analysing the socio-economic impacts of Suutela wooden village construction in North Karelia, Finland. The main objective of this article is to provide an illustrative example on the regional input–output modelling, applied to the investigation of the socio-economic impacts of a conventional, decentralised bioeconomy. Based on this Finnish case of a wooden village with bioenergy district heating, we demonstrate both the employment and income potentials of a decentralised bioeconomy. The results indicate good socio-economic potential of local wood construction, resulting in about 250 personnel working years and a total economic impact of 43.7 million euros on the regional economy. To maintain the sensitivity of the input–output modelling, it is considered more suitable for overall regional impact estimations, rather than pointing out differences between the subsystems. When modified for research purposes, the regional input–output model is well capable to efficiently describe the socio-economic impacts and providing information for local decision-makers to support new projects of a bioeconomy.

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Notes

  1. White Paper “The European Bioeconomy in 2030—Delivering Sustainable Growth by addressing the Grand Societal Challenges”.

  2. The private houses in Suutela have an approximate heated floor area of 125 m2. In housing associations, there are about 200 apartments, and the heated floor area of an apartment is approximately 65 m2. There are estimated 3–4 persons per apartment. The district heating (DH) system uses 1,500 bulk-m3 of forest chips, resulting to an approximate of 7.5 m3 per apartment. In addition, private houses use 8–12 stacked cubic metres of chopped firewood. Approximately 95 % of the DH is produced by forest chips, 5 % light fuel oil is used as a backup and during the winter-peak loads and summertime low-heat loads. Small houses are wooden low-energy buildings, and most of them have electric heating. Total area of Suutela is 18.3 hectares, and it is densely build when compared to other residential areas in the municipality (12 homes/ha).

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES) co-finance project “Lähilämpöverkoista ja uusista energiaratkaisuista liiketoimintaa matalaenergiarakentamisessa” (New business opportunities from micro-scale heating networks and new energy solutions in low-energy construction).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus, Joensuu, Finland

    Olli Lehtonen

  2. Centre for Natural Resources, North Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Joensuu, Finland

    Lasse Okkonen

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  1. Olli Lehtonen
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  2. Lasse Okkonen
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Correspondence to Olli Lehtonen.

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Lehtonen, O., Okkonen, L. Regional socio-economic impacts of decentralised bioeconomy: a case of Suutela wooden village, Finland. Environ Dev Sustain 15, 245–256 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9372-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9372-6

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