Hungary energy crisis measures make bed for another catastrophe

Wood you like to heat your home this winter?

On Thursday evening, a government decree was published that will remove virtually all obstacles to logging in Hungary. This implies that the state is preparing to take extraordinary measures to ensure the supply of firewood in winter. Environmental organisations, such as the WWF and Greenpeace, have already warned of the severe short-term and long-term damage to the natural environment that could result from the government's new legislation.

The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on since late February, without the hope of ending any time soon. The European Union imposed a host of sanctions on Russia that countered by actually closing and threating to close even more gas taps. Europe is currently trying to wean itself off Russian gas.

One of Hungary's responses to what it calls an energy crisis and the natural gas supply shortages it envisages for the EU was to "create the opportunity to heat with wood wherever possible." Its explicit goal is to "provide enough firewood for the heating season to supply Hungarian households."

Government measures include a ban on firewood exports, an increase in logging on state forest holdings and an easing of logging rules.

The government argues that waiving environmental regulations does not threaten sustainable forest management and that it would severely harm nature or at least it considers such damages secondary. Meanwhile, some organisations have warned that intensive logging was already taking place in Hungarian forests before the regulation was adopted, leaving many forests and forest areas unrecognisable. Decades of damage could occur under the regulation.

Professional organisations have made it clear that there's no scenario in which the new regulation does not cause environmental damage.

Unbelievably, the Interior Ministry intends to save money on the heating of schools, and it has instructed educational institutions to start purchasing stoves as soon as possible. Gergely Gulyás, PM Orbán's chief of staff, said a week ago that they would explore how to switch to heating with wood in other public institutions, as well. It's pure madness.

Let's see just one example to see how utterly bonkers this plan is.

In Szeged, the smallest school that needs heating is 1,385 square metres, but there are also institutions with a floor area of 9,900 square metres. Classrooms vary in size, averaging 20-25 square metres, with ceilings of 3.6 metres and often poor insulation. They would need eight months to obtain a mixed-fuel boiler. There is a problem with the supply of spare parts, which slows down production. The cost of conversion depends on the building and the price will rise as demand increases, so the final price is merely a guess.

According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, 10,000 tonnes of wood per month may be needed to provide minimum heating for Szeged’s educational institutions. Firewood is also a scarce commodity, but its price in Szeged is already HUF 8-9000 (EUR 20.13-22.65) per hundred kilograms. In a city of this size, firewood alone would cost at least HUF 480-500 million (EUR 1.21-1.26 million), but the amount could reach even HUF 800 million (EUR 2 million).

If they had half a brain...

The government's argumentation suggests that the aim of the relaxed regulation is to get more trees felled, turned into firewood and onto the market as soon as possible. But the process is not that simple!

It's not the first time that the cabinet 'forgets' to consult experts before taking a key decision, but it's astonishing that none of them has ever tried to build a campfire with freshly cut twigs and branches. How did it go, guys? Smoke burning the eyes? Coughs and curses in quick procession, huh?

A tree is a living thing. Yes, it has dead tissue (most of the trunk), but even a three-year old knows that WATER is transported from the roots to the crown. A tree is MOIST. At least half of it is WATER. Freshly felled trees are not good firewood as their moisture content is at least over 40%.

When it comes to firewood, any moisture level of over 20% is bad. Good firewood has a moisture level below 20%, preferably between 10 and 15%. Burning wood with higher moisture content creates more smoke, which contains harmful chemicals and particulates and forms creosote on your chimney. A clogged chimney and you're dead (carbon monoxide). It also gives you less heat, because it takes energy to boil off the excess water. Not to mention air pollution that the smoke causes.

Freshly felled trees are simply not suitable for firewood, it's that simple.

Stove building and marketing companies recommend to use wood seasoned for at least 18 to 24 months to reach a moisture content of under 20%.

Even Hungary's National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) warns in a brochure that every 10% of additional moisture content lowers the calorific value of the firewood by 9%. (Example: freshly felled tree with 50% moisture content as a 2.3 kWh/kg calorific value, versus wood with 15% moisture content with 4.3 kWh/kg calorific value. That's a 47% difference!)

"Freshly cut timber is not suitable for firewood. Allowing felling of forests will not solve anything within two years. Only more people with be bamboozled with wet wood that will destroy their heating equipment, chimneys, while the winter air quality will be disastrous. There will be flash floods, and later on even more drought and desertification," an engineer working in building energetics commented on Facebook.

He warned that Hungary needs investments that are in the long-term interest of the people and the country, adding that switching to an energy source that can only serve the country in a forced way will cause damages that will take decades to reverse.

The government apparently does not care about these secondary impacts, as it has decided that managing the 'energy emergency' - any which way it can - trumps every other interest.

Logging in protected forests? Yeah, just chop away!

The emergency government decree published late on Thursday also eases the way for the clearcutting of native tree species - which include oak and beech - in protected forests, while also relaxing other restrictions on loggers.

21% of Hungary's land area, around 2 million hectares, is forest, 40% of which is protected or part of the EU's Natura 2000 network. As the "ecosystem services" provided by forests are becoming increasingly valuable with climate change, the aim should be to further increase forest cover, protect forests and keep them in a near-natural state, news portal Telex wrote. Until now, it seemed that the government also suspected this, at least István Nagy, the Minister of Agriculture, regularly bragged about the progress made in afforestation, and there is a so-called National Afforestation Programme, the plan is to increase the proportion of land covered by forest and wood to 27% by 2030.

Yet, the decree signed by Orbán is tantamount to an about face in this respect. Here are some of the new rules:

• It is now possible to fell in protected state forests of high natural value, and this can cover a larger area.
• If a forest of non-native species, such as acacia, is felled in a protected area, there is no need to plant native species in its place, or indeed to plant anything at all if the forest can regenerate from coppice.
• State forestry departments do not require official permission for roads leading to the forest area to be harvested.
• In 100% state-owned forests, there are also looser rules for determining the age at which trees can be cut down. Logging can take place up to 20 years earlier than the harvesting age in the forest plan.
• Unlike in the past, it will also be sufficient to regenerate areas of more noble tree species, Austrian oak (Quercus cerris) and oaks (Quercus).
• Harvesting not included in the forest plan may also be carried out at the discretion of the Minister responsible for forestry.

The country is covered by 10 national parks and 22 state forest farms, with state-owned forests accounting for about 48% of the forest area (typically large, contiguous, mid-range mountain forests). The rest is privately owned, but these too must comply with conservation rules and the Forest Act.

László Gálhidy, head of WWF Hungary's Forest Programme, pointed out that one of the most problematic points is the permission of felling trees during the vegetation period, as this has a serious impact on other organisms besides trees, for example, trees can be felled during the nesting period of birds.

If you cut down the forest (clearcutting) and then let it grow, whatever grows there by itself the sudden light will make it so thick that the seedlings of the nobler species cannot grow. For 150 to 200 years, there was no time in the country when it was not compulsory to regenerate a forest that had been cut down,

he added.

Also, if a 130-year-old oak is cut down 20 years earlier, we'll lose exactly those 20 years when the tree is the most valuable from an environmental protection aspect, he stressed. "This is when trees can provide the most useful habitat functions for other forest creatures."

While the general view is that a forest is an ecosystem rather than a tool we use for benefit, the new regulation restricts the value of the forest to a single factor: how many cubic metres of firewood we can harvest from it. There's a hope that forestry experts will not want to destroy without justification the other 'services' of forests, such as water conservation, nature protection, recreation.

"A net of 6-7 million cubic metres of wood is logged annually in Hungary, of which 3.5 million cubic metres is firewood. This 6-7 million cubic metres is almost a third less than the amount that could be produced from the forests and with the methods that have been allowed until now," a forestry source told Telex.

It would therefore be possible to increase production by up to 25% without unnecessary felling, without cutting protected trees and without cutting trees that are not yet ready for felling.

This has not happened so far simply because there has not been enough demand (which may now change with rising overheads) and not enough harvesting capacity (which cannot be solved in the short term).

The widely felt labour shortage in Hungary is also affecting forestry: many competent professionals have left the country, but there is also a shortage of manual workers. "Whereas 3-4-man brigades used to do the harvesting, now there are 1-2-man teams that can do 30-35 cubic metres a day instead of 70-80," Telex has learned. The sector lacks both contractor and machine capacity, and the technology of domestic logging is generally outdated; what is done by machinery to the west of us is done by people here, but there are fewer of them.

Firewood moisture content guide

Apple: An expensive firewood that creates a pleasant smelling fire. Green applewood contains about 60-percent moisture. You should season apple firewood for at least one year. 

Ash: Green Ash and White Ash are the most common varieties used for firewood.  Logs contain roughly 33-percent moisture content when freshly cut. Season for at least six months to reach less than 20-percent moisture content. 

Birch: Black and yellow birch trees make quick-burning firewood great for starting fires.  Freshly cut birch will have a moisture content of around 44-percent. You should season birch firewood for at least six months. 

Cherry: Cherry firewood is a great option if you are looking for a pleasant smelling fire.  You’ll need to season cherry firewood for at least two years since green cherry wood has a moisture content of approximately 70-percent.

Hickory: Shagbark Hickory is the most common variety used for firewood. It’s recommended to season hickory firewood for at least one year. Green hickory has a moisture content of roughly 40-percent. 

Maple: All varieties of hard maple trees make good firewood. Logs contain roughly 45-percent moisture when freshly cut. You’ll want to season maple firewood for at least six months. 

Oak: White, red, and black oak all make excellent firewood that burns long and slow. Freshly cut oak will have a moisture content of around 60-percent—season for up to two years. 

Walnut: Black walnut is the most common variety for use as firewood. You should season walnut firewood for at least one year since it has a moisture content between 70-80-percent when first cut. (Source: backyardboss.net)

Cover photo: MTI: János Bugány