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Energy from Plant & Animal Matter
Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals.
Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's
energy in a process called photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed
on to animals and people that eat them. Biomass is a renewable energy source
because we can always grow more trees and crops, and waste will always exist.
Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage.
When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as
heat. If you have a fireplace, the wood you burn in it is a biomass fuel. Wood
waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity, or to
provide heat to industries and homes.
Burning biomass is not the only way to release its energy.
Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or
transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Methane gas is the main
ingredient of natural gas. Smelly stuff, like rotting garbage, and agricultural
and human waste, release methane gas - also called "landfill gas" or
"biogas." Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce
the transportation fuel, ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can
be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.
Biomass fuels provide about 3 percent of the energy used in
the United States. People in the USA are trying to develop ways to burn more
biomass and less fossil fuels. Using biomass for energy can cut back on waste
and support agricultural products grown in the United States. Biomass fuels
also have a number of environmental
benefits.
Wood & Wood Waste
The most common form of biomass is wood. For thousands of
years people have burned wood for heating and cooking. Wood was the main source
of energy in the U.S. and the rest of the world until the mid-1800s. Biomass
continues to be a major source of energy in much of the developing world. In
the United States wood and waste (bark, sawdust, wood chips, and wood scrap)
provide only about 2 percent of the energy we use today.
About 84 percent of the wood and wood waste fuel used
in the United States is consumed by the industry, electric power producers, and
commercial businesses. The rest, mainly wood, is used in homes for
heating and cooking.
Many manufacturing plants in the wood and paper products
industry use wood waste to produce their own steam and electricity. This saves
these companies money because they don't have to dispose of their waste
products and they don't have to buy as much electricity. The photograph to the
right is of biomass fuel, probably wood chips, being stored and dried for later
use in a boiler.
Biomass & the Environment
Biomass can pollute the air when it is burned, though not as
much as fossil fuels. Burning biomass fuels does not produce pollutants like
sulfur that can cause acid rain. When burned, biomass does release carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas. But when biomass crops are grown, a nearly equivalent amount of
carbon dioxide is captured through photosynthesis. Each of the different forms
and uses of biomass impact the environment in a different way:
Burning wood - Because the smoke from burning wood
contains pollutants like carbon monoxide and particulate matter, some areas of
the country won't allow the use of wood burning fireplaces or stoves on high
pollution days. A special clean-burning technology can be added to wood burning
fireplaces and stoves so that they can be used even on days with the worst
pollution.
Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics
from the U.S. Government. 12 June 2009
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/biomass.html>.
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For additional information on Mid-America Biomass Systems click on links below:
Commercial Biomass Systems
AES Energy
Hurst Boiler
Residential Biomass Systems
Pellet Stoves
Wood Gasification Boilers | 
