Essay about Biomass as an Alternative Energy

Petroleum has been a mainstay of the United State's economy for almost a century. However, oil has now been recognized as a strong catalyst for global warming, it is becoming scarce and therefore, an expensive necessity to America's economy. In the recent years many universities and scientists have looked for alternatives to oil in the form of renewable energies. These renewable energy sources would be cheaper in the long run, more efficient and environmentally clean. America as a whole must look into these new forms of renewable energy to determine if they are a practical alternative to the use of petroleum as an energy source. If we do not try to find a clean and efficient alternative to fossil fuels, I am concerned

However, despite its many advantages biomass still has many disadvantages. Firstly it is not as efficient as fossil fuels, for example the ethanol produced for cars via biomass is not even close to the efficiency of petrol and does damage to engines over time. It also has the potential to harm the environment through increase of methane gases which are produced as a bi-product if animal and human waste is used. Biomass also requires a large distance away from residential areas in order to burn it and a large amount of fuel in comparison to other energy sources which can have dramatic effects if large portions of forests are cut down to provide lumber.1

Biomass energy is a renewable energy source from living or recently living plant and animal materials which can be used as fuel. There are many ways in which we could produce this energy such as heat and steam. Also, instead of leaving waste in landfills, we’re reusing that waste and converting it into usable power. Pros: 1. Renewable. 2. Dependency on Fossil Fuels is Reduced 3. Protects air quality 4. Improves forest health. Cons: 1. Not 100% clean. 2. Requires a lot of water. 3. Not as efficient as fossil fuels.

Currently in the U.S. we rely on non-renewable sources to produce our energy such as oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear energy. Although these methods do well producing energy, they also have large down falls environmental, economically, and in other ways that fail to show a promising future. This makes it necessary that we adapt alternative renewable energy methods that do not have these effects, and can insure a promising future.

In the United States today we face growing costs in providing homes and businesses with electricity with the current costs and demands of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are becoming less common and more expensive with each passing day. An alternate source of energy must be found to combat this growing dilemma, a source that is already providing 13% of our countries energy. Hydro, Solar and Wind energy all three of these being able to provide a potentially infinite amount of energy, so why have we not committed to taking advantage of these sources of energy? Alternate fuel sources for electricity such as Solar energy, Hydro energy and Wind Turbine should be more commonly used for each area in the United States to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Everyday in U.S., immense amount of fossil fuel is burned. Fossil fuels are fuel formed by natural processes, such as decomposition of buried dead organisms. Fossil fuel release carbon dioxide when they are burned which adds to the greenhouse effect and increases global warming. The way we can help the environment and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide is by replaying fossil fuels with solar and wind sources for electric power generations in the U.S.

Biomass is the use of organic matter to make electricity. Organic matter such as trees and plants are burned and heat water to create steam. The steam created from boiling water is used to turn turbines to create electricity. Biomass can also be used to create Methane which is used to create even more electricity.

The Biomass energy is an organic matter that is used by photosynthesis. This is used to generate energy and the most common energy is coming from the wood of the trees, corn, municipal solid waste, and sugarcane. The biomass is used to create ethanol, biodiesel, bio oil and biogas. This in turns create electricity with steam turbines and gasifies to produce heat. The advantage of using the biomass over the fossil fuel is that biomass is a renewable carbon source, zero net carbon dioxide emissions, lower methane, sulfate, and hydrocarbon emissions, and the most important is no dependence on foreign oil. Another is the geothermal energy, in which it uses the heat from the earth to warm things up. The common source is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly. The main sources of uses are to heat homes, greenhouse, industrial process heating mineral recovery, fisheries and also mitigate global warnings. Geothermal energy is more valuable than the fossil fuels because it is an inexhaustible energy source, lot less emissions in the atmosphere, more efficient than solar energy, work under any kinds of weather conditions. The fossil fuels are irreplaceable, create massive environmental pollution and are also causes the major factor of the global warming and the ozone layer depletion. Also the Biomass and the Geothermal are very inexpensive compare to the fossil fuels by almost 50 percent.

Jevanni CousinsProfessor ReidSCC 101 Biofuel’s Future in the U.S. and the WorldOne of the major problems confronting the United States and the World today, is the growing lack of fossil fuels and the accrual emissions of carbon into the atmosphere. The United States is still dependent on fossil fuels today such as coal despite numerous efforts to decrease that dependency, and are also relying on imported oil from multiple foreign countries particularly in the Middle East. The use of fossil fuel has generated great anxiety in greenhouse gas emissions and governments from all over the world, including the United States which is leading the effort in combating this issue. The problems have grown so huge in this century that President Barack Obama made it a major initiative during his administration to overcome it. He once said “we cannot drill our way to energy but must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels” (Obama). In this paper, I will discuss biofuels, the types biofuels, along with its potential and challenges that it may face in our growing society. In recognition of the issues that exist due to fossil fuels, the United States elective bodies has been preaching the encouragement for the uses of biofuels, which has prompt an increase in

The use of biomass as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels is considered to be beneficial to the environment because it is believed that it will reduce the increase of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Biomass is considered a carbon neutral source of energy because the carbon released into the atmosphere will be absorbed again when new plants/biomass grows in a

For many years humans have been relying on fossil fuels for most sources of energy. Fossil fuels are an energy source that are formed from ancient plants and organisms approximately three-hundred million years ago. Three types of fossil fuel products exist that fuel basically everything humans use on a daily basis whether its electricity or fuel for a car and those are coal, oil, and natural gas. However, the process of turning fossil fuels into these three types of fuels produces carbon dioxide which has a negative effect on the environment, and fossil fuels are unreliable because they are a non-renewable resource. By switching to a more reliable and economy friendly source of energy such as solar and wind power the environment will be protected from further damage.

M-Global has an extreme passion for energy conservation and dedicates itself in finding alternative energy sources that are innovative and constructive. Biofuel is the emphasis of our company and our purpose for this pursuit. According to Green Choices of Cornell University, “biofuels are energy sources made from living things such as plants or from waste that the living things produce”. (http://www.greenchoices.cornell.edu/energy/biofuels/) Biofuels will reduce greenhouse gases that car oil and gasoline produce. Emissions enter the ozone layer trapping heat resulting in warmer temperatures in each season. A first generation biofuel will consist of gasoline such as biodiesel, which will be discussed in this portfolio.

The most of global energy production produces from fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. The vast fossil fuels generate energy which use for many purposes for instant residential, transportation and industrial sectors. While the rate consumption of fossil fuel higher than their formation leads to oil price crisis. Another concern of fossil fuel combustion is the impact on the environment. Global warming is a significant problem which results in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. These problems drive researchers and societies to search alternative energy such as switching to renewable energy or carbon-free energy to replace fossil fuels. For example Nakata et al., (2011:465) show ‘low-carbon society’

Direct combustion is the most common way of converting biomass to energy - both heat and electricity- and worldwide it already provides over 90% of the energy generated from biomass. Direct combustion of solid biomass fuel is well understood, relatively straightforward, commercially available, and can be regarded as a proven technology. Biomass combustion systems can be easily integrated with existing infrastructure. Direct combustion of biomass for heat generation is widely used in cold climate regions where there are significant annual demands for space heating and hot water. Domestic biomass -fired heating appliance in the developed countries have been improved with automation and standardized fuel supplies (e.g. wood pellets). Compared with traditionally open fireplaces, these advanced domestic biomass applications not only achieve efficiencies of over 70% but also with greatly reduced atmospheric emissions (Liu H. 20 II)