Biomass/Bioenergy

Bioenergy uses biomass or organic material to provide heat, make fuels, and generate electricity. A familiar bioenergy source - wood - has been providing heat for thousands of years.

In addition to wood, there are many other types of biomass - such as plants, residue from agriculture or forestry, and the organic component of municipal and industrial wastes - that can now be used as an energy source.  Many bioenergy resources are replenished through the cultivation of energy crops, such as fast-growing trees and grasses, called bioenergy feedstocks.  Farming and harvesting bioenergy feedstocks can be a solution to a twofold problem - the decrease in agriculture as an industry in the US and its reliance on imported petroleum.

Biomass is uniquely different from other renewable energy sources, because it can be converted directly into liquid fuels for our transportation needs.  These liquid fuels are called biofuels.  The two most common biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel.  Biofuels run much cleaner than petroleum products and can be used to help cut emissions in traditional vehicles.  Biofuels can also be directly used as a fuel source with some engine modifications.

In addition to its use in transportation, biomass can be converted, through heating, into a fuel oil, which can be burned like petroleum to generate electricity.  Biomass can also be burned directly to produce steam for electricity production or manufacturing processes.  In a power plant, a turbine usually captures the steam, and a generator then converts it into electricity.  The lumber and paper industries’ wood scraps are sometimes directly fed into boilers to produce steam for their manufacturing processes or to heat their buildings.  This not only is an alternative fuel source, but is an environmental reduction of industrial waste.