Biomass Energy Analysis

Natalie Lee Mr. Johnson Paper on Biomass Energy A Review on Biomass as a Sustainable Energy Energy makes all life on Earth possible. Energy from food allows plants and animals to live and grow. Scientists have experimented with alternative sources of energy for centuries, yet serious interest in renewable energy sources began in the 1970s, when the price of oil rose steeply. Biomass fuel, any material from living things that can be used as an energy source, is the oldest and currently the world’s most common alternative energy resource. It can be burned to produce steam for making electricity or to heat building and can also be converted into more concentrated energy sources such as liquid fuel or gas. In this light, the following reviews

Concerns include the sustainability of increasing crop yields and intensifying agriculture, competition for land and food production, and the potential for environmentally damaging land use change (Slade). "Energy from Biomass: The Size of the Global Resource," an assessment of the evidence that biomass can make a major contribution to future global energy supply, by UK Energy Research Centre reports a figure about common assumptions for high, medium and low biomass potential estimates. Global biomass potential is measured in exajoule (EJ), and moving from the lower to the middle bands implies a dominant role for energy crops and requires increasingly ambitious improvement in the agricultural system, and changes in diet. With low population under 9 billion and crop yields outpace demand more than 2.5Gha land for energy crops, the global biomass potential will possibly be within the range 700-1200EJ. The figure shows that the biomass potential from energy crops is essentialy linked to the food demand and how it will be met. All studies here rely upon datasets collated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation

Overall, integration of food and biomass production for energy could present benefits, and this report will significantly contribute in the understanding of the interactions between biomass production, conventional agriculture, and land use. In developing countries, especially in rural areas, 2.5 billion people rely on biomass, such as fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural waste and animal dung, to meet their energy needs for cooking, according to the scientific research "Energy for Cooking in Developing Countries." Biomass energy, in many countries, accounts for over 90% of household energy consumption. The number of people relying on biomass will increase to over 2.7 billion, which is one-third of the world’s population, by 2030 because of population growth (Energy). The research is vaild as it is mainly based on The International Energy Agnecy (IEA) and FAO, the main international organizations monitoring biomass energy data in developing countries. Collecting and processing biomass energy statistics is a complex process because of the diversity of consumption patterns, differences in units of measurement, and the lack of regular surveys. The research estimates that over 2.5 billion people, or 52% of the population in developing countries, depend on biomass as their primary fuel for