energies Article A Comparative Analysis of Two Cable Yarder Technologies Performing Thinning Operations on a 33 Year Old Pine Plantation: A Potential Source of Wood for Energy Rodolfo Picchio 1,*, Rachele Venanzi 1, Nicolò Di Marzio 1, Damiano Tocci 1 and Farzam Tavankar 2 1 Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy;
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[email protected] (D.T.) 2 Department of Forestry, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal 56817-31367, Iran;
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[email protected] Received: 24 July 2020; Accepted: 14 October 2020; Published: 15 October 2020 Abstract: In central Italy, there are extensive European black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) plantations which range from 30 to 60 years of age and where no thinning operations have been made. The main purpose of this study was to provide a comparative analysis of two cable yarder technologies (Maxwald, mobile pulley carriage and Savall, semi-automatic carriage), in terms of fuelwood production and cost, from the first thinning of a 33 year old plantation in slope areas of these plantations. The results showed that fuelwood production was cost-effective in both systems (Savall by 15.1 and Maxwald by 3 14.8 ¿ m− ), although the productivity of the Savall system was higher than the Maxwald system 3 1 (6.1 vs. 5.7 m h− ). The respect amounts of productivity have the potential to increase by 27% for the Savall yarder and 25% for the Maxwald yarder upon condition that the delay times are reduced to minimum level by proper training of workers, by a better organization, and planning of operations.