Petri-Jaan Lahtvee presented the opportunities of wood valorization at Circular Economy Conference held by Circular Economy Laboratory in Tallinn University of Technology.
In his words, when it comes to wood, the majority today is still used for energy generation – one of the lowest-value uses imaginable. Emerging technologies now offer promising alternatives for chemical or biological valorization, yet the question remains: are we bold enough to invest in these innovations, even though they may still require optimisation and large-scale industrial validation?
These issues were discussed with experts from the timber and energy industries. In Petri´s personal view, innovation and extracting the highest possible value from our limited natural resources is the only viable path forward if Estonia wants to succeed in the global economy.
📷 by Arno Mikkor