Alternative Energy: Biomass

1
Alternative Energy Biomass

• Erica Cabaluna
• and others

2
What does biomass mean?

• Biomass is a biological matter that is made of
  living or recently living plants or animal waste
  that can be used to make energy in many
  situations.
• It is a renewable resource that is more evenly
  distributed over the Earth's surface than are
  finite energy sources.

3
How is it used in cars?

• Biomass accounts for roughly half of all the
  renewable energy produced in the United States,
  and we use more of it than any other country in
  the world.
• One way is to produce ethanol, a liquid alcohol
  fuel. Ethanol can be used in special types of
  cars that are made for using alcohol fuel instead
  of gasoline. The alcohol can also be combined
  with gasoline. This reduces our dependence on oil
  and is also an example of potential energy.

4
How is biomass being used today to create
electricity?

• Because biomass is just organic material, things
  like burning wood or charcoal count as using
  biomass as an alternative energy source in
  addition to deriving biofuel from plants.
  Electricity is generated through the combustion
  (burning) of biomass.

5
What are ways biomass is used to heat homes today?

• Producing energy from
• biomass usually involves the
• burning of organic/previously
• organic material. Generating
• heat using biomass is extremely
• simple. The combustion of these
• materials creates heat, because
• obviously, fire is hot, i.e. the
• burning of wood in a woodstove
• to heat up the house.

6
Advantages of Biomass

• Renewable
• Burns cleanly
• Available throughout the world
•  
• Disadvantages
• Contributes to global warming if burned directly
• Expensive
• Amount of energy put into growing biomass

7
What can be done to encourage the use of biomass
energy in the future so we don't use up the
world's fossil fuel supply?  

• Planting large areas of new forest can slow the
  increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide by
  removing CO2 from the atmosphere. 
• The rate of growth in atmospheric carbon dioxide
  can be reduced substantially by decreasing the
  current rate at which forest is being converted
  to other land uses.

•  

8
Biomass Energy

• Forests that are not harvested do not continue to
  accumulate carbon indefinitely. Must plant new
  generation of trees.
• Fast growing trees can recycle carbon rapidly and
  will displace fossil-fuel with every cycle. 

•