DISCUSSION
How Biomass Works
Solar panels, hydropower, and wind turbines are all well-known renewable resources. However, one of the most prevalent sources for energy is often overlooked. Biomass is a renewable and sustainable energy resource that uses organic materials to generate electricity. ("Biomass Power Association.") Biomass energy is made from any form of previously-living material. This includes any animal material or product, all vegetation, and even human waste. Scrap lumber, forest debris, crops, manure, and even industrial wastes can all be utilized and turned into renewable energy through biomass. Often leftover materials from factories such as paper mills are used to help sustain the renewable resource. However, this process tends to be inefficient and unreliable (Mary, Booth), so frequently biomass energy is instead produced by cutting down forests or converting crops such as sugar or corn into combustible fuels. Biomass is considered a renewable resource because organic material and waste will always exist. Whether this is through forests, crops, or animals, as long as humans inhabit the earth there will be waste to utilize. [figure 2]
Although biomass is sometimes considered inefficient in comparison to other fuels, biomass fuels have two strengths when compared to widely-used fossil fuels. The first reason is the time difference there is between fossil fuels and biomass. One example would be coal. In nature coal requires close to 400 million
Biomass also generates electricity and also provides heating which is direct can be renewed into biofuels as a substitute for the fossil fuels
One of many possible renewable sources of energy is biomass. Biomass energy is the power that is contained within plant and animals.
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.
Bioenergy is a renewable energy which is obtained by combusting the biomass. It is also called ‘biomass energy’. Biomass is one of alternative sources, which consists of different materials such as trees, construction wood, sewage sludge, manure, and farm waste including cornhusks, peanut shells, leaves and so on (Ischenko et al, 2007). Ischenko et al (2007) claim that biomass releases less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel. In the other words, it helps to slow down the pace of global warming. Another advantage of it is turning the great amount of waste such as potato peels, used cooking oil, pig intestines into useful energy. So it can reduce the costs of
Renewable energy is energy that comes from any natural process and can be quickly regenerated. Some of the most common forms of clean energy include solar energy, wind energy, and hydroelectricity. These types of electricity are gathered through technology such as solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric dams. Other types of renewable energy less known include geothermal energy, biomass energy, and energy collected from ocean (Renewable). Geothermal uses the Earth 's heat to generate energy while biomass use plants and other organic materials to make energy and fuels. Ocean energy can be derived from a multitude of areas. Energy can be gathered from the tides, the wind, and can also be gained from the
Biofuels are fuels made from biomass, which is the organic physical material of an organism that is or was alive. Biomasses can be separated into two categories - liquids and solids. Liquid biomass fuels include biodiesel and ethanol. Solids include charcoal, garbage, wood, and manure. The majority of organic matter contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, the same elements that make up fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal. Biomass can be burned as is or converted into a different fuel that burns more efficiently. The use of biomass for fuel is not a new idea, as humans long ago used whatever could help them survive. Solid biofuels like wood, manure, and charcoal have been used ever since man discovered
How does biomass work? Our project is on Biomass Energy. Biomass energy is a renewable energy resource from living or recently living plants or animals materials which can be used as fuel. Many different types of biomass is wood, dead plants, dead animals, garbage, corn. Biomass is a renewable energy source because the energy in it comes from the sun, but also because biomass/bioenergy can grow again over a short period of time compared with the long time that it takes to grow fossil fuels. Through the process of photosynthesis, chlorophyll in plants captures the sun's energy by converting carbon dioxide from the water and air from the ground into carbohydrates. When burned, they turn back into water and carbon dioxide and release the energy
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.
Direct Costs: Through the WBDG (a national science program), they were able to help me find the construction of biomass plants estimates within $3,000-$4,000 per kW with a “levelized cost of energy of $0.8 to $0.15 per kWh” (“Biomass for Electricity Generation.”).
Biomass can be considered as a renewable energy resource, although burning biomass releases carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere similar to burning fossil fuel (Liu H. 2011). There is a significant difference in CO2 release between burning a fossil fuel and burning biomass. Burning a fossil fuel releases CO2 that has been locked up for millions of years in the ground, affecting the natural CO2 cycle and resulting in an increase in the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Burning biomass simply return to the atmosphere the same amount of CO2 which was absorbed from the air via the photosynthesis process while the biomass plant was growing over a relatively short period of time (a few years to decade), and there is no net release of C02 into the atmosphere, i.e., CO2-neutral, if the cycle of growth and harvest is sustained. Therefore, biomass can consider as a renewable energy resource as shown in Figure 3.1 (Li u H. 2011). If the production and transportation of the biomass fuel involve the use of fossil fuel, there would become net release of CO2 with biomass combustion (Liu H. 2011)
Fuels have dominated the way the world operates for decades; with a rising demand for fuel becoming constantly more predominant. Their uses are vast, making them versatile and in high demand around the world. But since most common fuels like diesel and petrol are fossil fuels, the availability of such fuels is decreasing rapidly. Hence alternatives to these fuels are being developed and used worldwide. These alternatives include biofuels. Biofuels are defined as “a hydrocarbon that is made BY or FROM a living organism that we humans can use to power something.” (biofuel.org.uk, 2010) Most biofuels are made using forms of biomass, including algae, sugar cane, seeds, oil, fats etc. (biofuel.org.uk, 2010) Biodiesel is a biofuel alternative to
Renewable resources are also known as alternative energy sources. Alternative Energy is any source of energy that can be renewed (Issit). Renewable Energies include hydrogen fuel, biomass fuel, hydropower, solar power, geothermic energy, and nuclear power. Hydrogen fuel is an amalgamation of hydrogen and oxygen which is used to produce electricity (Issit). Biomass fuel is made from materials which have already been used, such as compost, and can be used to generate electricity (Issit). Hydropower can be created through moving water or wind to generate electricity (Issit). Using sunlight to produce electricity is called solar power (Issit). Geothermic energy is energy made by the heat under the earth’s mantle (Issit). Nuclear power is
Cooking Using Biomass Energy Biomass refers to living and recently dead biological materials that can be used as fuel or for industrial production.
US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office is working to replace the whole barrel of oil using biomass feedstocks. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/about.html
Sustainable biomass-feedstock availability is crucial to any biochar system. Thus, the study uses a strict set of criteria to assess the availability of feedstock for biochar to ensure the approach is sustainable. Land conversion to generate biomass is of primary importance as it can have adverse effects on the ecosystem. In addition, it can lead to release of carbon stored in the soils and biomass(Woolf, Amonette, Alayne Street-Perrott, et al.). This results in unacceptable limits of carbon pay-back times before any net reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide is achieved. (Fargione et al.)(Woolf, Amonette, Alayne Street-Perrott, et al.). For example, clearance of