Economic Evaluation of Eucalypt Energy Plantations1

An evaluation of the economic feasibility of investment in a eucalypt energy plantation must involve an assessment of the costs of the various cultural practices (planting, weed control, irri­ gation), the costs of processing the standing tree into a usable form (logging costs, transportation costs, chipping, cutting to firewood length) and the returns expected from the sale of the pro­ cessed product (firewood, chips), all compounded or discounted to a constant point in time at an interest rate selected on the basis of management objectives.