Biomass energy

Biomass energy is energy generated or produced by living or once-living organisms. The most common biomass materials used for energy are plants, such as corn and soy, above. The energy from these organisms can be burned to create heat or converted into electricity.

 Burning wood pellets isn't the 'clean energy' it claims to be, critics say

There's a big market sending U.S. wood pellets to Europe to burn as clean energy. But critics say they're not climate-friendly, and their production poses a health hazard for low-income communities.

 Is Biomass Really Renewable?

As the thinking about biomass continues to evolve, state, federal, and international regulations need to clearly distinguish between the types of biomass energy that are beneficial and those that are detrimental. Treating all biomass, regardless of its source, as carbon neutral, could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions at home and around the world.

 Seaweed: The New Ethanol?

The future of biomass could be growing under the sea.

 The Debate Over Burning Dead Trees to Create Biomass Energy

Critics worry about the risks of overcutting and wood smoke. But supporters say the practice will prevent megafires—which release even more carbon dioxide.

 The fuel of the future

WHICH source of renewable energy is most important to the European Union? Solar power, perhaps? (Europe has three-quarters of the world’s total installed capacity of solar photovoltaic energy.) Or wind? (Germany trebled its wind-power capacity in the past decade.) The answer is neither. By far the largest so-called renewable fuel used in Europe is wood.

 Why Biomass May Not Be The Clean Energy Panacea We Expected

In reality, burning wood pellets releases more CO2 than burning coal, due to the lower combustion and processing efficiencies of wood. However, the EU Renewable Energy Directive assumes that cleared trees would decompose anyway.

 With Ethanol And Biomass No Longer Viewed As 'Green,' Will Other Renewables Soon Follow?

Beyond the quantity of energy they provide, biomass and biofuels always had a major advantage over solar and wind: their reliability. A biomass power plant can generate electricity day or night, wind or no wind. Biofuels can power your car no matter the weather.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass Energy

Over the years, biomass has become a popular alternative energy source with much potential to be both a reliable and consistent source of renewable energy to meet our growing needs.

California’s Green-Energy Subsidies Spur a Gold Rush in Cow Manure

A lucrative state incentive to make natural gas from dairy waste is attracting companies from Amazon to Chevron.

Europe’s renewable energy policy is built on burning American trees

Biomass energy is inadvertently making the climate crisis worse.

The ‘Green Energy’ That Might Be Ruining the Planet

If a tree falls in a forest—and then it’s driven to a mill, where it’s chopped and chipped and compressed into wood pellets, which are then driven to a port and shipped across the ocean to be burned for electricity in European power plants—does it warm the planet? Most scientists and environmentalists say yes: By definition, clear-cutting trees and combusting their carbon emits greenhouse gases that heat up the earth.