TIMBER
[around £850k] have generated results,” said Johan Jonsson, Head of Södra Skogsplantor. After several years of hard work, the Flåboda nursery south of Växjö became totally fossil-free in 2015. Since then, efforts to transition to fossil-free operations have also been ongoing at the Falkenberg facility. In the final stage of the transition, the gas to the greenhouses was turned off last spring and when the heating system is restarted in the autumn it will be powered by new, environmentally friendly, wood pellet boilers. This means that all operations, not only in Falkenberg but in all of Södra’s nurseries, are now fossil-free.
“Greenhouses, production premises and staff rooms are heated with either pellets from our own sawmills at Långasjö and Värö, or by geothermal systems. The electricity we use is green and generated by our pulp mills. In addition, all of our machinery and vehicles run on hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO, a synthetic diesel fuel produced by
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hydrogenating plant and animal fats, mainly sourced from abattoir trimmings and rapeseed oil.),” said Johan Jonsson.
Reduced CO₂ emissions is a key sustainability target for Södra and also means that production must be fossil-free by 2020. “Due to several years of successful efficiency improvements, our fossil-free production target will soon be achieved by all of our production units. It is very gratifying that our nurseries have already reached this goal,” said Henrik Brodin, project manager for ‘A fossil- free Södra.’
Increased production
Since 1st March, the annual production volume of sawn timber at the Mönsterås sawmill has increased by 100,000 m³. This required a third shift and approximately 30 new employees. “The journey of change undertaken by Södra’s sawmills in recent years is now yielding results in terms of more competitive production and a better offering to our customers,” said
Jörgen Lindquist, President of the Södra Wood business area.
Over the past two years, Södra has implemented structural changes in its sawmill operations to strengthen the company’s long- term competitiveness. The market outlook is bright and sustainable construction is driving the interest in timber as a building material. The underlying demand for sawn timber is high.
“With our focus to grow with our customers, we need to increase production at Mönsterås to meet demand” said Jörgen Lindquist. The proportion of timber-frame buildings is growing all over Europe. Due to the positive environmental effects, combined with construction efficiency and reduced transportation, interest in timber-frame construction is rising.
“This is one of the reasons why we have entered the timber building system segment and are investing in a cross-laminated timber (CLT) facility at our sawmill at Värö. Production
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2018
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