Biomass is all plant and animal matter that is on the earths’ surface. It is everything that is alive or has recently been alive. The more common Biomass that we think of is plant material that can be burnt to generate heat and energy.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide during their growth life using energy from the sun (photosynthesis) and store this until they die. The plants are either eaten by animals (and thus converted into animal biomass) or are broken down by microorganisms, or burned. If broken down or burned they release the carbon back to the atmosphere as C02. This is known as the carbon cycle and has been a part of nature for millions of years. In contrast, fossil fuels are also derived from biological mass, but they have collected and stored the carbon millions of years ago, and will continue to store it as long as they are not burned. When we burn fossil fuels we release this carbon back into the atmosphere.
Thus, biomass can be environmentally friendly, and a low carbon source of energy, if we replace the plants and crops that are harvested and burned. The newly planted crops will absorb the C02 released by the burning of the previous crop, thereby making the cycle low carbon. However, we must plant at least as much as we are burning, if not more. The amount of energy required to plant, harvest and transport the biomass fuel means that more carbon is emitted than the crop has absorbed. Thus every planting cycle must be incrementally larger than the previous crop.
There are five basic categories of Biomass materials:
- Virgin Wood: from forests
- Energy Crops: high yield crops grown specifically for energy
- Agricultural Residues: residues from agricultural harvesting or processing
- Food Waste: from manufacturing, processing and consumption
- Industrial Waste: from manufacturing and industrial processes
Biomass is a renewable, low carbon fuel, but is not carbon neutral. We cannot realistically expect the size of the biomass crop to grow every time we plant a new crop. Therefore, maintaining the original size of the crop after each harvest will mean that the process overall generates some carbon emissions. However, these emissions will be very small in comparison to traditional fossil fuel energy production. Also, correctly managed Biomass can be a sustainable energy source that can be grown in the UK. It also offers financial incentives and can be used on a large enough scale to make a real difference compared to other energy production methods.
Visit the Biomass and Log Burners Home Page
Other pages of interest in this section:
- What is Biomass?
- How does it work?
- How much energy does it produce?
- How much does it cost?
- Are there Grants and Funding available?
- What is the Payback Period?
- Future Technology
- Overall Assessment
