 For Sustainable Heat and Electricity
Biomass is attractive as a source of energy for the production of heat and electricity. In the formation of biomass, living plants consume the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere in order to grow. When it is used to produce energy, the biomass only releases the same amount of CO2 to atmosphere that was first consumed. This makes biomass a carbon neutral source of energy.
However, not all biomass is the same.
Organic waste, wood, manure, grains, corn as well as various other derivatives and waste products of plant or animal origins may be used as climate friendly energy supplies. Reeds, straw off-cuts and whole grain plants are also suitable for power generation. Even waste products from oil plants (such as rapeseed mulch) can be used as a feed stock.
Solids biomass fuels make up only one part of the total amount of non-fossil fuels available of whose origins we fully understand. The most important of this group are woods and wood residuals that are collected from forest thinning, sawmills and other available wood sources.
Fast growing timbers such as willows and poplars, can be grown in tree farms/plantations and harvested after only a few years.
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