The Future of Biomass Energy

Energy created by the use of biomass fuels is quite uncommon in the UK, however the use of energy created in this way in the USA is on the increase. Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals. The energy in these substances is ultimately generated by the sun via photosynthesis. Such substances can include wood, crops, rubbish, landfill gas, alcohol fuels. Looking at the fuels it becomes obvious how energy created in this way can be sustainable with the planting of fast growing trees, perennial crops and the unlikely probability that the human race will decrease its level of waste production in the future. Human waste provides a truly sustainable fuel that can be burned outright or buried in a landfill site and with the methane generated from its decomposition can be tapped to provide a clean source of energy.

The human race has burned wood for heat and energy since we first discovered fire and still remains the largest source of energy for consumers using biomass. Saw mills and paper factories re-use their wood waste to create their own electricity and steam to aid the production of their products so the technology exists to create efficient sources of energy using wood. Some trees will grow back quickly after being cut off low to the ground, a process called ‘coppicing’ and when fields of trees are cut one after the other, allowing the field previously harvested to grow back, it is called ‘short rotation coppicing’ allowing for a continuous supply of wood. Modern technology has allowed a liquid and gaseous fuel to be made from wood products.

biofuels can be made using fats, greases and even vegetable oil waste from restaurants and is being used to power diesel engines with little or no alteration to the engine and so hold the greatest promise for the future. The use of biofuels mean we use less fossil fuels and emit less greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The department of energy in the US has made encouraging predictions on the use of biodiesel. They predict that by the year 2010 four percent of transportation fuels will be produced from biomass and by the year 2030 as much as 20 percent.

Crops grown for the sole usage of producing fuel are called ‘energy crops’ and are the largest producer of oils and ethanol for the production of biofuels. The general idea is to produce the highest yield possible per hectare but that requires high levels of fertiliser and the use of non organic fertiliser can have negative effects on the atmosphere and local wildlife. However, the use of organic fertiliser is being widely utilised, using manure and the straw from the previous harvest to stimulate crop growth. The production of energy crops is predicted to increase to cope with the increasing demand for biofuels

Biomass waste can include anything organic thrown away as rubbish by consumers including garden waste such as tree clippings and grass cuttings, for example. The outright burning of this biomass for energy is unlikely due to the large water content however energy can still be derived from it. Allowing the matter to decompose creates another source of energy in the form of methane gas. This process usually happens when the rubbish is placed in a landfill site and then the methane is tapped from underground. However, the British government is not investing time and money into this form of energy production and so methane gas plants built on landfill sites are uncommon and so the methane escapes into the atmosphere.

The future seems promising for the concept of biomass energy as the government is realising the benefits of using more and more energy from organic sources and the relative ease of which it can be implemented. The US is already ahead with its usage of biomass however the EU is altering its allocation of funding and consequently, instances of biofuels are on the increase. More and more haulage businesses are using regular diesel mixed with biodiesel lowering their costs and reducing the need to import foreign oil. Or they are running solely on vegetable oil reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide and monoxide into the atmosphere. The future will yield more and more businesses using biofuels as the costs of running these businesses using regular diesel and petrol are increasing dramatically due to the short supply of oil. Also no alterations to the engines are needed to accommodate low concentrations of biofuels mixed with the regular fuel.

http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,17301&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy_basics/offmen-how-biomass-energy-works.html