Las bioenergías en España. Una serie de producción, consumo y stocks entre 1860 y 2010

This paper presents the methodological and statistical basis of a new data series of Spain's bioenergy consumption between 1860 and 2010. We have estimated the primary production, appropriation, and the type of final use of all woody biomass, which represents the most consumed bioenergy. The series distinguishes the production source, including forests, olives, vineyards, and the rest of woody fruit orchards, as well as regional disaggregation at partido judicial level (425 in Spain) between 1860 and 1960. The bioenergy consumption series is represented both in primary (by energy source) and final (by energy carrier) energy. Our findings point out that i) consumption was higher than traditionally assumed in the previous literature; ii) there are four major phases in the period, including a slow decline from 1860 to 1914, a return to firewood with a small increase until 1955, a rapid decline from then to 1980, and finally, a return to bioenergies (with modern uses) from 1980 to the present; iii) there are strong regional disparities in firewood consumption between 1860 and 1960, ranging from 1 to 5 kg hab-1 día-1; iv) in the supply of bioenergies, geography also explains the type of product consumed: in Mediterranean provinces, woody crop-based consumption gained prominence, as they expanded over traditional forest areas; and v) stock of woody biomass has multiplied unprecedently since the mid-20th Century due to the abandonment of forestlands, the introduction of fast-growing species, and the optimal geographical allocation.