BIOMASS BY: HANNAH CHAN

WHAT IS BIOMASS? renewable organic material that can be used to produce energy. manufactured from crops, wood, manure, land fill gasses and alcohol fuels. Biomass is basically self-renewing energy.

HOW IS BIOMASS PRODUCED? Producing fuel and energy from biomass is a complex procedure but the principle behind it corresponds directly to photosynthesis.

HOW IS BIOMASS PRODUCED? This is a chemical reaction in which carbon dioxide and water are transformed into oxygen gas and glucose through the input of energy from the sun.

HOW IS BIOMASS PRODUCED? Plants become autotrophs because they use glucose as a source of energy rather than fossil fuels.

FOSSIL FUELS OVERVIEW Burning fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide that was captured during photosynthesis literally millions of years ago. As it is burned, carbon dioxide is released as a new greenhouse gas, a ‘new’ carbon dioxide.

BENEFITS Biomass fuel, on the other hand, releases carbon dioxide that was recently captured during photosynthesis and it tends to equal itself out. Nothing ‘new’ is being sent into the atmosphere, thus greatly reducing the greenhouse gas effect on the ozone layer.

THE BRIGHT SIDE Biomass would help the environment because the use of organic materials would be the most efficient and less detrimental way to create energy due to lack of emissions.

FEASIBLE? YES! The use of biomass is still under research, but its effectiveness if and when it is used is undeniable.

IS IT BEING USED? Research on the environmental and economic effects of biomass energy is ongoing, but the United States currently has more installed biomass power capacity than any other country in the world.

IS IT BEING USED? In fact, biomass accounts for roughly half of all the renewable energy produced in the United States. the dominant commercial use of biomass is wood, which is burned for heat and power in the lumber, pulp, and paper industries, and increasingly is viewed as a fuel for electrical utilities.

IS IT BEING USED? In Europe its current use accounts for 0.95% of energy production. For 2010 that is forecast to be around 8%. In the USA now it accounts for over 3%.

GLOBAL WARMING? Biofuels do not add to the net amount of CO2 already present in the atmosphere. This is because carbon in the biofuel is locked up only for the short period of time in plants or animals and can be considered as recycled as newly growing crops and animals once again take up the atmospheric CO2 used in burning.

INTERESTING FACTS Growing biomass is a rural, labour-intensive activity so it can create jobs in rural areas and help stem rural-to-urban migration. Most biomass is in solid form, but it can also be a liquid. Biomass usually consists of a complex polymer of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen with small amounts of nitrogen and inorganic elements.

Distribution of biomass plants throughout the U.S.

WEBSITES USED