Wood biomass use in Slovenia and new challenges for the future

In the last decades, wood has been substituted by other materials in many fields of utilization (construction, furniture, energy production). In Slovenia, which is markedly wooded, the process of substituting wood as a raw material started later but has been rather intense in the last twenty years. Substitution of wood in industry and in energy production has several consequences. Among the most distinctive ones are pollution of environment because of increased utilization of fossil fuels, and low realization of cut in forests. In this article we would like to present wood biomass use in Slovenia and some actions which were taken on both micro and macro level in last few years to overcome social and economical barriers for enlarge use of wood biomass.(author)