2.4. Estimation of costs and income, treatment
comparison
Hourly costs of machines and operators were estimated
using the Miyata procedure [18]. Work time (E0) was defined
as the common basis for hourly cost and productivity. This
enabled the direct unit cost to be estimated on a production
basis: timber over bark (o.b.) m3, biomass green tonne (t).
Average transport costs were 12.7 V t_1 for shredded
biomass and 9.0 V t_1 for timber, corresponding to favourable
access conditions and short transport distances to the
mills.