1. Biomass energy is not as efficient as fossil fuels

• Biomass energy is not as efficient as fossil fuels. Some biofuels, like Ethanol, is relatively inefficient as compared to gasoline.
• It is not entirely clean.
• Can lead to deforestation.
• Biomass plants require a lot of space.

We use four types of biomass today—wood and agricultural products,solid waste, landfill gas and biogas, and alcohol fuels (like Ethanol or Biodiesel). Most biomass used today is home grown energy. Wood—logs, chips, bark, and sawdust—accounts for about 44 percent of biomass energy.

Explanation: The natural decay of biomass produces methane, which can be captures and used for power production. In landfills, wells can be drilled to release the methane from decaying organic matter. Explanation: Methane can also be produced from biomass through a process called anaerobic digestion.

Burning either fossil fuels or biomass releases carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. However, the plants that are the source of biomass for energy capture almost the same amount of CO2 through photosynthesis while growing as is released when biomass is burned, which can make biomass a carbon-neutral energy source.

“Biomass is far from “clean” – burning biomass creates air pollution that causes a sweeping array of health harms, from asthma attacks to cancer to heart attacks, resulting in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths.”

Most carbon emissions linked to human activity are in the form of carbon dioxide gas (CO2). They essentially allow biomass burning to cause much more global warming per unit weight than other human-associated carbon sources. Black and brown carbon particles increase atmospheric warming in three ways.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon that has been trapped for centuries, adding carbon into the atmosphere that had been unavailable underground. So, by burning biomass fuels we release no more carbon dioxide than would have been produced in any case by natural processes such as crop and plant decay.

No energy source is perfect, biomass included. Though it is renewable, there are both benefits and downsides to generating electricity using biomass energy plants….Pros and cons of biomass.

Biomass mostly derived from plants, that means as long as plants are going to be on this planet, biomass will be available as renewable energy source. Biomass helps reduce the amount of GHG that give more impact to global warming and climate change. The biomass emissions level is far smaller compared to fossil fuels.

Biomass continues to be an important fuel in many countries, especially for cooking and heating in developing countries. The use of biomass fuels for transportation and for electricity generation is increasing in many developed countries as a means of avoiding carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use.

Burning biomass also releases carbon monoxide, leading to headaches, nausea, dizziness, and in high concentrations, premature death. What’s more, burning biomass for electricity also produces nitrogen oxides (like nitrogen dioxide) and nasty cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene and formaldehyde.

In the United States, direct combustion is the most common method of producing heat from biomass. Small-scale biomass electric plants have installed costs of $3,000 to $4,000 per kW, and a levelized cost of energy of $0.8 to $0.15 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Biomass fuel is significantly cheaper per kW than oil and electricity and slightly cheaper than gas. And, if you have a supply of free wood, your fuel costs could disappear completely.

Biomass can provide renewable baseload power. Because supply is predictable, unlike wind or solar, biomass can meet energy demands without disruption. Therefore, biomass is physically reliable. The popularity of biomass-generated electricity is growing because of government policies.

20 Countries Turning Waste And Biomass Into Energy

Where is biomass found?

• 86% of the worlds Biomass is located in the global south, also known as Brazil.
• Very little Biomass is Found in the United States.
• Sub-Saharan Africa comes behind Brazil with 2nd largest amount of Biomass.

Forbes magazine has named North Dakota, Iowa, Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina as the top five U.S. states for producing biomass feedstocks. According to the Forbes article, biomass feedstocks include agricultural and forest residues, including yard and wood waste.

Biomass can be used for fuels, power production, and products that would otherwise be made from fossil fuels. NREL’s vision is to develop technology for biorefineries that will convert biomass into a range of valuable fuels, chemicals, materials, and products—much like oil refineries and petrochemical plants do.

Use of Biomass Today, biomass provides us over four percent of the energy we use. It has been replaced by coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other energy sources. There are many sources of biomass used in the U.S. today.

Today, biomass is used to fuel electric generators and other machinery.

Biomass systems range from small stoves used in homes for heating or cooking to large power plants used by centralized utilities to produce electricity. In residential applications, biomass can be used for space heating or for cooking. Wood is the most common source of fuel, although many different materials are used.

Common problems of biomass produced energy are cost, transportation, seasonal restrictions and the efficiency (or lack of efficiency) of the fuels produced. Of the renewable fuels that may provide our energy needs in the future, biomass may be the oldest but it is also the least developed.

Biomass is a renewable energy source because we can always grow more trees and crops, and waste will always exist. Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage. When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat.

Biomass is an incredibly versatile substance, able to produce energy through being burned directly, converted into liquid biofuels or harvested as a gas from landfills or anaerobic digesters. Its own source of energy comes from the sun, and as plant matter can be regrown relatively quickly, it is classed as renewable.