FAQs

Biomass is a major source of energy supply and it is used at different levels of technology. It is the 4^th largest contributor to the world’s primary energy supply (after oil, coal and natural gas) and  provides four times more primary energy than hydropower. Biomass comes in many forms; wood and crop residues such as sugar cane, energy crops, sewage waste, animal dung, industrial and municipal waste, oil from plants, and many others. Wood is by far the dominant biomass source. Scientists are identifying new biomass feedstocks such as jatropha and algae, and lignocelluloses produced from cellulosic ethanol. These are outlined in the report. It can be used “directly” in “traditional” applications, as in household fires or wood burning cookers, or “indirectly” after conversion into a secondary form of energy, such as biopower and cogeneration, biodiesel or biogas. It is the only renewable that can easily be processed into these three forms of secondary energy and is the largest form of primary renewable energy. As a secondary form of energy, biomass has a much smaller share of power generation than hydro power, which accounts for 15 times more electricity. The greatest use of direct or “traditional” biomass is in the developing countries, while the developed countries lead in biomass conversion.

Outline of the report:

This report is concerned with the technologies, markets and development of biomass energy, both primary and secondary. Indirect use is the focus of much technological development both in the industrialised and the developing countries. Resources are enormous and constantly being renewed, either as forest or crop residue, the commercial cultivation of energy crops, and through the wastes generated from organic and industrial sources. The report has more extensive quantified information than in the last edition, with historical profiles of the 25 major biomass-using countries. Detailed sections of the report provide surveys of principal biomass technologies and feedstocks together with their usage:

· Biofuels, including bioethanol and biodiesel, with extensive coverage and discussion of the issues in the bioethanol industries in the USA and Brazil and biodiesel in Europe.

· Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), with surveyes of the main markets in Europe, the US, India, Japan and China.

· Landfill gas, with surveys of the US, Europe and China.

· Biogas, produced by anaerobic digestion or fermentation of many waste feedstocks.

· Biopower, with outlines of the production technologies and historical data of generating capacity in the US and Europe from 2000 to 2007.

Environmental issues are discussed in the report, including national positions and a brief discussion of the controversy surrounding the misuses of data by promoters of the global warming concept.

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For more information on the rest of the topics we cover within the renewable energy market please go to our renewable energy market research page.