What is Biomass Energy?

Biomass energy is energy obtained from organic material produced from living, or recently living organisms. Biomass is most commonly plant matter that has been purposely grown to produce heat or generate electricity. Plant waste, including dead trees, wood chips, garbage, and grass clippings may all be used as biomass, as can any biodegradable waste that can be burned for fuel; however, this category also includes plant or animal matter that is used in the production of fibers or chemicals. By definition, biomass excludes organic materials, such as fossil fuels, that have been transformed into combustible substances, such as coal or petroleum, through geological processes.

Sources of Biomass Energy

Material that is used in this process comes primarily from five major sources: landfill gasses, garbage, waste, alcohol fuels, and wood. Wood energy comes from direct use of harvested wood as well as from the burning of wood waste. Waste energy is the second-largest source of biomass fuel. The main contributors of waste energy are municipal solid waste (any trash collected by a town), landfill gas (methane), and manufacturing waste. Alcohol fuel (ethanol) is derived exclusively from corn and is used as an additive in gasoline.

Is there an environmental impact to using biomass energy?

Currently, the New Hope Power Partnership is the largest biomass power plant in the United States. The facility uses sugar cane fiber and recycled wood as fuel to create enough power for its large-scale operations as well as to provide renewable electricity for nearly 60,000 homes. This facility alone reduces dependence on oil by nearly one million barrels per year. And, because it uses recycled sugar cane and wood waste, it conserves landfill space in Florida.

Despite that, biomass as a fuel alternative has some of the same negative consequences as traditional fuels, with air pollution being the most significant. When biomass is combusted, its carbon content enters the air as carbon dioxide. Another by-product, black carbon (a pollutant by-product of the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels), is considered to be one of the largest contributors to global warming. A recent study of the giant brown haze that periodically covers large areas in South Asia measured a significant concentration of carbon-14, which is associated with recent plant life rather than with fossil fuels, revealing that the principal source or the pollution is biomass burning. To a lesser extent fossil-fuel burning (because less fossil fuel is being used) contaminants were found.