User:CindelynRoyston336

Biomass is any organic material that is made by plants and animals. This consists of all parts of plants, animal flesh and excretions such as manure. Biomass in rich in energy which you can use for fuel which is called biofuel.

Fossil fuels are also a biomass since it's believed that they originate from ancient plants and animals. But often when people speak of biomass they are discussing material produced from sources that are alive now or were recently.

Biofuel is often talked about as though it was a new technology that individuals can use in the foreseeable future to simply help solve our energy supply issues. But humans have already been using biofuel since the beginning of humanity. The food we consume is a form of biofuel that we wouldn't exist without. Humans have also used plant materials such as for example wood wax and whale oil as a fuel to burn up for heat and light for 1000s of years.

Newer technologies have allowed us to make use of biomass to make other biofuels. Biomass could be burned to power electric generators or made into methane, alcohol or bio diesel for powering our cars. These processes are energy intensive meaning a lot of energy is lost in converting biomass in to the other forms of fuel or energy. Because of this these biofuels have not been cost effective or practical.

With the technology going into biofuel research the main one type of biofuel that people have already been using since ancient times still remains the most efficient and practical. Burning biomass such as wood for direct heating is still the absolute most efficient.

Rather than focusing on attempting to use biomass to fuel our cars and generate electricity we might be better off using it to heat our homes and buildings. Firewood may not be practical for most of us but pellets produced from wood as well as other biomass could be. Burning pellets is economical, clean and may be the most efficient method to utilize energy in biomass.

For people who want to use biomass as a renewable energy source heating with wood or other biomass pellets are practical and economical and the technology and distribution systems are already available.

production biomass