To enhance the use of biofuels is stated priority of EU and German energy policy. Reasons given for this priority inter alia include positive income effects for the rural areas. This paper uses the example of North Rhine-Westphalia to investigate rural areas’ possibilities to profit from...

Based on previous experiences with the cultivation of short Rotation Coppice in Germany, the present article deals with the profitability of tree-plantations for bio-energy generation. The production process is divided into several steps in order to compare the resulting production costs with...