Methodology of analysis of biomass potential using gis in the czech republic

This article deals with the issue of a methodology for and analyzing biomass potential in the Czech Republic using a geographic information system. The biomass sources considered include cereal and rape straw,permanent grasslands and forest residuals. The process of assessing biomass potential from agricultural soils is based on assigning yields of individual biomass sources according to the production soil-ecological units (BPEJ) which were created for better agricultural planning in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The analysis of energy crop suitability is based on the evaluation of crop yields related to individual BPEJ s respectively to its component the main soil climate units (HPKJ). To ascertain the production potential of residual biomass (straw) from conventional agriculture,the wheat (grain) yield related to HPKJ was multiplied by the straw coefficient. The yield of the permanent grasslands in the main soil climate units was also multiplied by the coefficient of dry matter. The methodology for the analysis of biomass potential for forest land is based on forest management plans that describe the composition of all forest stands. Data from these forest management plans can be used to determine in detail the potential of the forest biomass in individual periods according to the plan for silvacultural treatment and major harvest of the wood. This detailed analysis is suitable only on the municipality level. On a higher government level,the forest management plan can be used to calculate a coefficient that determines the average yield from biomass in the form of forest residuals and in relation to the forest size for specific areas or levels of analysis. The energy potential of residual biomass is around 136 PJ from present area of conventional agriculture in the Czech Republic. Biomass consumption in animal production and harvest loses were deducted from this calculation.